Triple Jump at the Olympics
The triple jump event is one of the four jumping events contested as a part of the track and field disciple in the Olympics. The men's event has been a part of the games since the first Olympics in 1896. The women's event was added to the Olympics only recently at the 1996 Atlanta Games. A standing triple jump event was also conducted in 1900 and 1904 but was discontinued later.
In the early days, the event was commonly called the hop, skip and jump (triple-saute on the french Olympic program). The winner of this event at the first Olympic Games was James B Connolly of the United States. As the triple jump was the first final contested at these Games, he also became the first Olympic champion of the modern Olympic Games. Connolly's winning style, which was acceptable at the time, was to initially take two hops before the jump, instead of a hop, a step then jump.
Viktor Saneyev is the most notable athlete in the men's event who won the gold medal three times and also has a silver medal to his name. Myer Prinstein of the United States, Adhemar da Silva of Brazil, and Józef Szmidt of Poland are the other three men who have won the gold medal twice. In its short history, Françoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon has been the most successful woman thus far winning the gold medal twice, in 2004 and 2008.
As of March 2016, the current Olympic record of 18.09m for the men's event is held by Kenny Harrison of the United States, which was set during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. For the women's event, the record is 15.39m set by Françoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon during the 2008 Beijing Games.
Related Pages
- About Track and Field at the Olympics
- See more on the Greatest T&F Athletes at the Olympics.
- A discontinued Olympic event the Standing Triple Jump
- List of Olympic Sports
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