Hamm was the prohibitive favourite, having set a world record of 7.90
in the US Trials. He had shown great consistency with five other competitions
of 25 feet (7.62) or better. Remarkably the event contained six
Olympic Champions in horizontal jumping events; Hamm, Hubbard
and Gordon (long jump), and Tuulos, Oda and Nambu (triple jump).
Hubbard, nursing an injured ankle, was bracketed in 11th place with
Tuulos and Oda at 7.11, with Nambu just ahead of them in ninth (7.25).
Sixth place was determined by a jump-off with de Boer reaching 6.96
to Gordon’s 6.57, and so taking three more jumps. At the head of the
competition Hamm jumped 7.73 in round 2, after having had a foul in
round 1 reportedly just below 8 metres. Cator also had a long foul
(7.80+) with his opener, followed by 7.50. The only Haitian ever to win
an Olympic medal had been the world’s number two man in 1925,
jumping 7.65, but had done little of note since then. He improved to
7.58 in the next round, but Hamm responded with jumps of 7.68 and
7.66, and clearly deserved his gold medal. Cator, who captained the
Haitian soccer team, would have his day in September, when he took
Hamm’s world record with the first ever 26 feet jump - 7.93. It was the
only mark from that season good enough to rank in the world’s top 100
in any event in the last year of the 20th century.
United States
Haiti
Germany
Netherlands
Sweden
Japan
Finland
Norway
Germany
Mexico
Ireland
Switzerland
Hungary
Italy
France
Greece
Denmark
Great Britain
Poland
Chile
Monaco
India
South Africa
Spain
Australia
