Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

The men's long jump at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on 16 and 18 August at the Beijing Olympic Stadium.^[1] Thirty-eight athletes from 32 nations competed.^[2] The event was won by Irving Saladino of Panama, the nation's first Olympic gold medal in any event and its first medal the men's long jump. South Africa also won its first men's long jump medal, with Khotso Mokoena's silver. Ibrahim Camejo's bronze was Cuba's first medal in the event since 2000. This event marked the first time that an American did not classify to the final phase in a non-boycotted Olympic competition.

Men's long jump at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Irving Saladino (2007 world championships)
Venue	Beijing Olympic Stadium
Dates	16 August 2008 (qualifying) 18 August 2008 (final)
Competitors	38 from 32 nations
Winning distance	8.34
Medalists
Irving Saladino  Panama Khotso Mokoena  South Africa Ibrahim Camejo  Cuba
← 2004 2012 →

Background

This was the 26th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2004 Games were fifth-place finisher Chris Tomlinson of Great Britain and twelfth-place finisher Salim Sdiri of France. Dwight Phillips, the reigning gold medalist who had won two world championships (2003, 2005) and would win two more later (2009, 2011) and finished third at the most recent championships, placed fourth in the U.S. Olympic trials and missed the team. The reigning world champion, Irving Saladino of Panama, was the favorite in Beijing.^[2]

Bermuda made its first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 25th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

The qualifying standards were 8.20 m (26.9 ft) (A standard) and 8.05 m (26.41 ft) (B standard).^[3] Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was able to enter up to three entrants providing they had met the A qualifying standard in the qualifying period (1 January 2007 to 23 July 2008). NOCs were also permitted to enter one athlete providing he had met the B standard in the same qualifying period.^[4] The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

Competition format

The 2008 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 8.15 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).^[2][5]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading jump were as follows:

World record	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95	Tokyo, Japan	30 August 1991
Olympic record	Bob Beamon (USA)	8.90	Mexico City, Mexico	18 October 1968
World Leading	Irving Saladino (PAN)	8.73	Hengelo, Netherlands	24 May 2008

No new world or Olympic records were set for this event.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 16 August 2008	20:00	Qualifying
Monday, 18 August 2008	20:10	Final

Results

Qualifying

Qualifying Performance 8.15 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the Final.

Rank	Group	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	Distance	Notes
1	A	Louis Tsatoumas	Greece	8.27 (+0.1)	—	—	8.27	Q
2	A	Ibrahim Camejo	Cuba	8.23 (+0.5)	—	—	8.23	Q
3	A	Greg Rutherford	Great Britain	8.16 (-0.1)	—	—	8.16	Q
4	A	Khotso Mokoena	South Africa	8.03 (-0.1)	X	8.14 (-0.1)	8.14	q
5	B	Ngonidzashe Makusha	Zimbabwe	8.14 (0.0)	7.94 (0.0)	—	8.14	q
6	B	Wilfredo Martínez	Cuba	7.92 (+0.4)	7.80 (+0.4)	8.07 (+0.1)	8.07	q, DPG[6]
7	B	Ndiss Kaba Badji	Senegal	7.65 (-0.1)	7.79 (-0.1)	8.07 (-0.5)	8.07	q, SB
8	A	Hussein Taher Al-Sabee	Saudi Arabia	5.47 (+0.3)	8.04 ( -0.4)	X	8.04	q
9	B	Irving Saladino	Panama	X	X	8.01 (+0.2)	8.01	q
10	A	Luis Felipe Méliz	Spain	X	7.77 (-0.1)	7.95 (+0.1)	7.95	q
11	A	Gable Garenamotse	Botswana	7.58 (+0.3)	X	7.95 (+0.4)	7.95	q
12	B	Roman Novotný	Czech Republic	7.75 (+0.3)	7.81 (-0.1)	7.94 (-0.2)	7.94	q
13	A	Stephan Louw	Namibia	7.73 (+0.1)	X	7.93 (+0.6)	7.93
14	B	Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi	Saudi Arabia	X	X	7.93 (+0.4)	7.93
15	B	Tyrone Smith	Bermuda	6.95 (+0.1)	7.63 (-0.6)	7.91 (-0.1)	7.91
16	B	Fabrice Lapierre	Australia	7.90 (+0.1)	X	X	7.90
17	A	Yahya Berrabah	Morocco	7.88 (+0.1)	X	X	7.88
17	A	Tommi Evilä	Finland	X	X	7.88 (+0.2)	7.88
19	B	Trevell Quinley	United States	X	X	7.87 (-0.2)	7.87
20	B	Andrew Howe	Italy	7.73 (+0.1)	7.81 ( -0.2)	X	7.81
21	A	Salim Sdiri	France	X	X	7.81 (+0.3)	7.81
22	B	Brian Johnson	United States	X	7.79 (-0.1)	X	7.79
23	A	Sebastien Bayer	Germany	X	7.43 (+0.1)	7.77 (0.0)	7.77
24	A	Hugo Chila	Ecuador	7.77 (+0.2)	X	X	7.77
24	B	Andriy Makarchev	Ukraine	7.77 (+0.3)	X	X	7.77
26	A	Mauro da Silva	Brazil	X	7.75 (-0.1)	X	7.75
27	B	Chris Tomlinson	Great Britain	7.52 (+0.4)	7.62 (0.0)	7.70 (+0.2)	7.70
28	A	Li Runrun	China	7.70 (+0.2)	X	7.56 (+0.1)	7.70	SB
29	B	Tarik Bouguetaib	Morocco	7.69 (-0.1)	X	X	7.69
30	B	Herbert McGregor	Jamaica	7.64 (0.0)	7.46 (+0.3)	7.36 (0.0)	7.64
31	A	Morten Jensen	Denmark	X	7.58 (+0.3)	7.63 (-0.1)	7.63
32	B	Louis Tristán	Peru	7.58 (+0.1)	7.62 (+0.3)	X	7.62
33	A	Marcin Starzak	Poland	X	X	7.62 (-0.2)	7.62
34	A	Henry Dagmil	Philippines	7.58 (0.0)	X	X	7.58
35	A	Nikolai Atanasov	Bulgaria	X	X	7.54 (-0.5)	7.54
36	B	Julien Fivaz	Switzerland	7.53 (0.0)	X	X	7.53
37	A	Vladimir Malyavin	Russia	7.32 (-0.2)	7.35 (-0.1)	X	7.35
38	B	Miguel Pate	United States	X	7.34 (+0.4)	X	7.34
—	B	Zhou Can	China	DNS
	B	Arnaud Casquette	Mauritius	DNS
	A	Issam Nima	Algeria	DNS

Final

The final was held on 18 August 2008.^[7] Martínez was disqualified.^[6]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Distance
	Irving Saladino	Panama	X (+0.1)	8.17 (-0.1)	8.21 (+0.1)	8.34 (-0.3)	X (-0.2)	X (-0.5)	8.34
	Khotso Mokoena	South Africa	7.86 (+0.1)	X (0.0)	8.02 (+0.2)	8.24 (0.0)	X (-0.2)	X (-0.4)	8.24
	Ibrahim Camejo	Cuba	7.94	8.09	8.08	7.88	7.93	8.20	8.20
4	Ngonidzashe Makusha	Zimbabwe	8.19	8.06	8.05	8.10	8.05	6.48	8.19
5	Ndiss Kaba Badji	Senegal	8.03	X	8.02	8.16 SB	8.03	7.92	8.16
6	Luis Felipe Méliz	Spain	X	8.02	X	X	7.98	8.07	8.07
7	Roman Novotný	Czech Republic	7.87	7.75	8.00	X	7.82	7.94	8.00
8	Gable Garenamotse	Botswana	X	7.85	—	Did not advance			7.85
9	Greg Rutherford	Great Britain	X	5.20	7.84	Did not advance			7.84
10	Hussein Taher Al-Sabee	Saudi Arabia	7.80	X	X	Did not advance			7.80
—	Louis Tsatoumas	Greece	X	X	X	Did not advance			No mark
5 DSQ	Wilfredo Martínez	Cuba	7.60	7.90	X	8.04	X	8.19	8.19

References

1. "Olympic Athletics Competition Schedule". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
2. "Long Jump, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
3. "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
4. "Entry Standards - The XXIX Olympic Games - Beijing, China - 8/24 August 2008". IAAF. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
5. Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.
6. "9 athletes, including 6 medalists, caught for Beijing doping". 27 October 2016.
7. "Iaaf.org - Olympic Games 2008 - Results 08-18-2008 - Long Jump M Final". Archived from the original on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-08-19.