Since taking over as head of
World Athletics
in 2015,
Sebastian Coe
has a clear objective: to make athletics an entertaining and dynamic product, a show.
For this reason, in recent years this organization has been generating modifications in some rules, formats and competitions.
And now he plans to introduce a radical change in one of the most historic events in this sport, the
long jump
.
The idea, as explained by the British newspaper
Daily Mail
, is to replace the take-off board with an area with a larger surface and measure the distance of the jump from footprint to footprint, that is, from the exact point at which the athlete takes the clean and jerk to where lands in the sand, with a special system focused on technology.
The modification will be tested this year in low-profile tournaments and if successful it would reach elite meetings in 2026, with a view to the
2028 Los Angeles
Games .
Thus, it is expected to give "greater spectacle and there will be fewer null jumps."
But it was enough for the news to come to light for criticism to appear, among which stood out that of a legend of this discipline,
Carl Lewis
, who ironically commented:
"You have to wait until April 1 to make jokes about Day of the Innocents"
.
The long jump has been part of the Olympic program since
Athens 1896
, the first edition of the modern Games;
although it had also been present in the events of Antiquity, when it was one of the five tests of the pentathlon introduced in the year 708 BC. It is believed that already at that time, the jump was performed from the board, so the revolution to the that World Athletic points out would change a format thousands of years old.
This test combines speed, strength, agility and precision to jump to the sand pit located just in front of the 20 centimeter wide stop fixed on the ground, which marks the limit of the space in which you can take off.
If the athlete steps with any part of the foot in front of that board,
the jump is null
, something that happens very often.
According to studies conducted by World Athletics, at last year's
World Cup in Budapest
, 31 percent of the jumps made were invalid.
This statistic worries Coe and his organization, who want there to be more and more entertainment and for audiences not to suffer.
"If we see the number of jumps in Budapest, that doesn't work. It's a waste of time.
With the board changing to a take-off zone, every jump will count and add drama to the competition
. At the same time, we are looking for the way to know the result right away without having to wait twenty or thirty seconds, like we do now. It's about improving what we already have to make it even more entertaining for the future," said
Jon Ridgeon
, executive director of World Athletics, in an interview with the
Anything But Footy
podcast .
He added: "We'll spend this year testing it in real-life circumstances with very good athletes.
If it doesn't pass the tests, we'll never introduce it.
We're not going to make changes on a whim because we think it's a good idea."
Carl Lewis
, Olympic champion in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 and owner of six of the nine best brands in history, was very critical of the proposal.
"The long jump is the most difficult event in track and field. This would simply eliminate the most difficult skill in the event (
the ability to sprint to a certain point
).
So why not make the throwing basket bigger?
Yes a lot of people miss them," commented the American, whose personal best is the 8.87 meters he achieved at the
1991 World Cup in Tokyo
.
Mike Powell took years of work to jump that world record.
So we're saying they can't jump that 30 years later?
They can, with the right commitment.
The focus should be like his and go get the damn record changing and doing whatever he had to do in training.
— Carl Lewis (@Carl_Lewis) February 21, 2024
In the final of that competition, considered one of the best sports competitions in history, Lewis faced his classic rival and compatriot,
Mike Powell
, who won with 8.95, a new (and still valid) world record.
Carl jumped 8.91 to take silver, although with a tailwind, which prevented that distance from being validated.
In his last attempt, he achieved 8.87 which is still the third best mark of all time.
The second, 8.90, had been established by another American,
Bob Beamon
, in 1968.
Since that World Cup on Japanese soil, no athlete, including Powell and Lewis, has managed to jump "legally" (that is, without the help of the wind) within 20 centimeters of Powell's record.
The Greek
Miltiadis Tentoglou
, current Olympic and world champion, has the best record of 8.60 that he achieved in a meeting in Athens in 2021. He won gold in Tokyo 2020 with 8.41 and the title last year in Budapest with 8. 52.
For many, the change proposed by World Athletics could alter that reality and lead to jumps of greater distance.
Although Lewis doubts it.
"We jumped differently, that's why we jumped further," said Lewis, Olympic champion in Barcelona 1992. Photo Eric Risberg/AP
"The idea of the new board will not work and will not improve the distances.
There will simply be more poorly measured jumps
, "
said the four-time Olympic champion.
And he continued: "The issue today has nothing to do with fouls. It's that they no longer try to jump far. We jump in a different way, that's why we jumped further. This change will harm distances in the long term. Lack of discipline and coherence on the track that exists will only get worse.
Serbian
Ivana Spanovic
, world champion in Budapest with 7.14 meters (her best record), also did not support the proposal.
"I believe that the focus on sponsorships and television broadcasts should not be detrimental to the integrity of the sport; and it would be good to find a balance between the promotion of the sport and the preservation of its basic values," he said.
"It would be good to find a balance between promoting sport and preserving its values," Spanovic said.
Photo Tiziana Fabi/AFP
It is worth noting that also among women, current brands are far from the best in history.
The record of 7.52 meters was set by Russian
Galina Chistyakova
in 1988. The ten best records of all time are from the '80s and '90s.
In Tokyo 2020, the German
Malaika Mihambo
won gold with a mark of 7 meters and her most outstanding performance was in 2019 with 7.30.
Ridgeon was unconcerned by the criticism.
"
You can't make changes to a sport that was invented 150 years ago without some controversy
. If you dedicated your life to playing the takeoff board perfectly and suddenly we replace it with a larger area, I understand that there may be initial resistance," he acknowledged.
He concluded: "As long as it's based on good evidence and good data, I think it will work in the end. And it's worth it. It's not about next year, it's about making sure we have a sport fit for another 150 years."