In 1968, in one of the top five Olympic moments of the last century, the long jumper made a leap so jaw-dropping it inspired the superlative Beamonesque. He discusses pride, pressure and the politics of that momentous Summer Games
‘I got a call from Webster’s saying, we put your name in the dictionary, and it means outstanding, unbelievable’ … Beamon in South Carolina. Photograph: Cornell Watson/The Guardian
The American weekly magazine Sports Illustrated pronounced Beamon’s jump one of the five greatest sports moments of the 20th century, above Bannister’s four-minute mile. “They never really showed videos of his jump until years later,” says John Carlos, the 200m bronze medalist in 1968. “What they showed was a still picture of him up in the air.”
Being so far in front made Beamon’s a lonely trail. He didn’t have family or friends to cheer him on at the Olympics. He had to accept that he had reached his athletic peak at the age of 22. What’s more, like many Black American luminaries of the day, Beamon was forced to reconcile racism at home with respect abroad – which also had its limits. “They’d whistle and yell and even boo,” Carlos recalled of the meets when Beamon didn’t jump over the sand pit. “It was difficult for Bob.
Beamon, too, appeared headed for disaster, joining a gang as a teen. He was expelled for inadvertently striking a teacher in a schoolyard fight and slapped with an assault and battery charge. In lieu of jail time, however, he was sent to a school for juvenile delinquents – where, among other things, he learned how to read when he wasn’t borrowing shoes to compete in athletics meets.
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