Who was the first person to long jump over 25 feet?
Edward Gourdin, called Ned by friends, was an American athlete and jurist. He was the first man in history to make 25 feet in the long jump. He was the first African-American and first Native-American to be appointed a Superior Court judge in New England.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
34 Comments
Richard D. Boyle
Susanna Viljanen, I don’t do metric but I believe it’s about 7.65. Close anyway.
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Aug 21, 2021 5:00AM
Richard D. Boyle
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.
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Aug 21, 2021 4:53AM
Richard D. Boyle
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.
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Aug 21, 2021 4:45AM
Richard D. Boyle
David Ching, Thank you David for all that additional detail.
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Aug 21, 2021 4:33AM
Richard D. Boyle
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.
1
Aug 21, 2021 4:31AM
Darlene White
I guess he could have been both African American and Native American . Pretty all round sinner, I’d say!
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Dec 26, 2018 6:51PM
Paul Bison
Mike Reidy, 25 feet, not yards.
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Dec 24, 2018 4:31PM
Louise C.
Great question.
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Dec 24, 2018 4:18AM
Vicky Rosenberg
interesting that he later became a superior court judge
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Dec 24, 2018 3:14AM
David Ching
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.
4
Dec 24, 2018 3:08AM
Mike Reidy
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
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Dec 24, 2018 1:58AM
Maurice Carlier
Deesign, thanks for filling in the details.
🙂
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Dec 17, 2018 7:51PM
Karen Mulhollem
Deesign, Wikipedia says that it was Bob Beamon ! in Mexican Olympic in 1968 !!! every one has their own idea!
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Dec 7, 2018 6:52PM
Deesign
Here's the reference
https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/go/ned-gourdin-1.html
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Dec 7, 2018 12:50PM
Deesign
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 â 7.69 (1921).
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Dec 7, 2018 12:46PM
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