The men's long jump event at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place on Monday, 25 September, and Thursday, 28 September 2000, in Sydney, Australia. Fifty-three athletes from 38 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Iván Pedroso of Cuba, the nation's first medal and title in the men's long jump; it snapped a four-Games streak of American (and, specifically, Carl Lewis) victories. Jai Taurima took silver, Australia's third silver in the event (1948 and 1984). Roman Shchurenko earned Ukraine's first medal in the men's long jump with his bronze. It was the first time the United States had competed in the event and not won at least a silver medal; the Americans had previously failed to place in the top two only at the boycotted 1980 Games.
Background
This was the 24th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1996 Games were silver medalist James Beckford of Jamaica, sixth-place finisher Gregor Cankar of Slovenia, eighth-place finisher Mattias Sunneborn of Sweden, and twelfth-place finisher Iván Pedroso of Cuba. Pedroso had been the best long jumper in the world since 1995, winning the 1995, 1997, and 1999 world championships (he would later win again in 2001); he had struggled with a hamstring injury in 1996, hampering his Olympic medal hopes in Atlanta. The American team of Carl Lewis, Mike Powell, and Joe Greene which had competed together the last two Games, sweeping the 1992 medals and taking gold, bronze, and 5th in 1996, had completely turned over. The United States had no particularly strong replacements; the nation's top jumper, Dwight Phillips, would later be dominant in the event but was not there yet in 2000. Jai Taurima, of the host Australia, was Pedroso's strongest challenger.
Lithuania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, and Uzbekistan each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 23rd time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.
Qualification
Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had jumped 8.05 metres or further during the qualification period. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. If an NOC had no athletes that qualified under that standard, one athlete that had jumped 7.95 metres or further could be entered.http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/images/stories/tfn_pdfs/ogqualifying_standards.pdf
Competition format
The 2000 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).Official Report, Results Book for Athletics.
Records
The standing world and Olympic records prior to the event were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule
All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
Date Time Round Monday, 25 September 2000 10:45 Qualifying Thursday, 28 September 2000 18:45 Final
Results
Qualifying
The qualifying round was held on 25 September 2000. The qualifying distance was 8.15m. For all qualifiers who did not achieve the standard, the remaining spaces in the final were filled by the longest jumps until a total of 12 qualifiers.
Rank Athlete Nation Group 1 2 3 Distance Notes1 Iván Pedroso A 7.70 7.99 8.32 8.32 2Luis Méliz B 7.87 8.21 — 8.21 3Dwight Phillips B 7.84 7.83 8.13 8.13 4Jai Taurima A 7.99 7.77 8.09 8.09 5Peter Burge B 7.62 7.96 8.06 8.06 6Carlos Calado B 8.047.987.96 8.04 7Vladimir Malyavin B X 7.96 8.03 8.03 8Petar Dachev B 8.03 X 7.85 8.03 9Kofi Amoah Prah A 7.867.92 8.01 8.01 10Olexiy Lukashevych A7.86 X 8.01 8.01 11Roman Shchurenko B 8.01 X X 8.01 12Bogdan Tarus B7.60 8.00 X 8.00 13Kareem Streete-Thompson A 7.997.76 X 7.99 14James Beckford B7.877.87 7.98 7.98 15Gregor Cankar A7.715.96 7.98 7.98 16Kirill Sosunov B 7.97 X 7.93 7.97 17Younés Moudrik A 7.957.83 X 7.95 18Hussein Taher Al-Sabee B X 5.92 7.94 7.94 19Yago Lamela B7.687.74 7.89 7.89 20Cheikh Tidiane Touré B 7.87 X X 7.87 21Danijal Jahić B 7.857.70 X 7.85 22Savante Stringfellow A7.327.70 7.84 7.84 23Masaki Morinaga A X 7.84 X 7.84 24Peter Häggström A X 7.80 7.83 7.83 25Melvin Lister A 7.57 7.827.76 7.82 26Danil Burkenya A 7.75 7.79 X 7.79 27Tomas Bardauskas A 7.18 7.706.95 7.70 28Ronald Servius B X X 7.66 7.66 29Mattias Sunneborn B7.457.58 7.63 7.63 30Nikolay Atanasov A X X 7.62 7.62 31El Mehdi El Rhazouani B7.49 7.607.58 7.60 32Richard Duncan A 7.33 X 7.60 7.60 33Hatem Mersal A 7.59 X X 7.59 34Mark Anthony Awere B7.167.36 7.57 7.57 35Arnaud Casquette B X 7.21 7.57 7.57 36Siniša Ergotic B7.34 X 7.53 7.53 37Erik Nijs A7.33 7.52 X 7.52 38Ian Lowe B 7.517.487.36 7.51 39Konstantinos Koukodimos B X 7.44 X 7.44 40Lao Jianfeng B7.26 7.417.33 7.41 41Georges Téko Folligan B X 7.40 X 7.40 42Mesut Yavas B7.34 7.356.03 7.35 43Nélson Carlos Ferreira B5.81 X 7.32 7.32 44Shirak Poghosyan B 7.247.10 X 7.24 45Rustam Khusnutdinov A 7.24 X X 7.24 46Wendell Williams A X X 7.22 7.22 —Rai Sanjay Khumar A X — — No markDaisuke Watanabe B X X X No markSung Hee-Jun A X X X No markAbdul Rahman Al-Nubi A X X X No markStephan Louw A X X X No markDimítrios Serélis A X X X No markLiu Honglin A X X X No mark
Final
The final was held on 28 September 2000.
Rank Athlete Nation 1 2 3 4 5 6 Distance Iván Pedroso X 8.34 X 8.41 X 8.55 8.55 Jai Taurima X 8.188.348.40 8.49 8.28 8.49 Roman Shchurenko7.76 X 8.14 X X 8.31 8.314Olexiy Lukashevych 8.08 X X 8.22 8.26 X 8.265Kofi Amoah Prah7.84 X 8.197.95 X 7.86 8.196Peter Burge7.808.067.937.96 8.158.11 8.157Luis Méliz7.977.94 8.08 X 7.82 X 8.088Dwight Phillips X 7.90 8.06 X X X 8.069Bogdan Tarus 8.007.93 X Did not advance 8.0010Carlos Calado 7.947.857.77 Did not advance 7.9411Petar Dachev 7.80 X 7.70 Did not advance 7.8012Vladimir Malyavin X X 7.67 Did not advance 7.67
References
External links Official results, qualification – IAAF.org Official results, final – IAAF.org Official Report of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics