Who was the first person to long jump over 25 feet?

Susanna Viljanen, I don’t do metric but I believe it’s about 7.65. Close anyway.

Marc Chabot, The answer is correct. Bob Beamon broke the 29’ barrier in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. By that time, jumping 25’ was absolutely routine and would not even win some high school competitions. Your source is either wrong in the extreme or you have misread it.

Karen Mulhollem, There are correct cactus and there are incorrect facts. Bob Beamon was not the first to break the 25’ mark. Beamon was the first to break the 29’ barrier. By 1968, 25’ was absolutely routine and would not even win some high school competitions. Jesse Owens was jumping well beyond 26’ inn the early 1930s. You have to have misread Wiki. I can’t believe they could be THAT wrong.

David Ching, Thank you David for all that additional detail.

For those of you who are claiming Bob Beamon in 1968, you are very wrong and it is not even close. By the time Beamon shattered the 29’ mark in Mexico City, 25’ was absolutely routine and was being accomplished by hundreds of athletes around the world. Jesse Owens was routinely jumping beyond 26’ in the 1930s and won the Gold Medal at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 setting a new World and Olympic record of 26’8 1/4” (8.13 metres) finally broken 25 years later by Ralph Boston and then again in 1968 by Bob Beamon with an amazing leap of 29.2’ or 8.9 metres. By 1968, high school kids were flirting with 25’. I have kept up with this because I was a track and field event man (including the broad jump) in the ‘40s and early ‘50s and Jesse Owens was and is one of my athletic idols.

I guess he could have been both African American and Native American . Pretty all round sinner, I’d say!

Mike Reidy, 25 feet, not yards.

Great question.

interesting that he later became a superior court judge

7.61 m (24 ft 11 1⁄2 in) Peter O'Connor (IRE) Dublin, Ireland 5 August 1901 7.69 m (25 ft 2 3⁄4 in) Edward Gourdin (USA) Cambridge, United States 23 July 1921 7.76 m (25 ft 5 1⁄2 in) Robert LeGendre (USA) Paris, France 7 July 1924 7.89 m (25 ft 10 3⁄4 in) DeHart Hubbard (USA) Chicago, United States 13 June 1925 7.90 m (25 ft 11 in) Edward Hamm (USA) Cambridge, United States 7 July 1928 7.93 m (26 ft 0 in) 0.0 Sylvio Cator (HAI) Paris, France 9 September 1928 7.98 m (26 ft 2 in) 0.5 Chuhei Nambu (JPN) Tokyo, Japan 27 October 1931 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) 1.5 Jesse Owens (USA) Ann Arbor, United States 25 May 1935 8.21 m (26 ft 11 1⁄4 in) 0.0 Ralph Boston (USA) Walnut, United States 12 August 1960 Bob Beamon jumped 8.90m Mexico City 1968 "at altitude" - Altitude gives benefit to the jumper.

John Davies, Sorry but Bob Beamon didn’t jump 25 yards, I’m protruding sure he jumped 8.90 mts, at the Mexico Olympics in1968

Deesign, thanks for filling in the details. 🙂

Deesign, Wikipedia says that it was Bob Beamon ! in Mexican Olympic in 1968 !!! every one has their own idea!

Here's the reference https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/go/ned-gourdin-1.html

I found this info. With the possible exception of [Sol Butler], Ned Gourdin of Harvard was the first of the great black long jumpers (he was also part Seminole Native American). On 23 July 1921, at the Harvard-Yale vs. Oxford/Cambridge meet, he set a world record of 25-3 (7.69), defeating the British first string, [Harold Abrahams], by the shattering margin of almost three feet. This was the first legal long jump over 25 feet. Gourdin was also an outstanding sprinter and at the same meet defeated Abrahams, the future Olympic champion of )Chariots of Fire) fame, in the 100y. Gourdin won the AAU long jump in 1921, the pentathlon in 1921-22, and the IC4A long jump in 1921. Gourdin, a lawyer, was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1925 and the Federal bar in 1931. He became a U.S. attorney in 1936 and in 1958 became the first black to become a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Personal Bests: LJ – 7.69 (1921).