World record: 7.52m Galina Chistyakova, Soviet Union, Leningrad, Soviet Union, June 11, 1988
Olympic record: 7.40m Jackie Joyner-Kersee, United States, Seoul, South Korea, September 29, 1988
Ten of the 12 qualifiers reached the automatic qualifying level of 6.65,
headed by Lebedeva’s 6.95. Simagina and Kotova leapt out to 7.05 on
successive first round jumps. Lebedeva’s second effort was the gold-
winning 7.07, and when Simagina cleared 7.02, after Johnson’s pb of
6.80, the three medals were settled. Only Lebedeva was able to reach
seven metres again (7.05 in round 5), and the nearest threat came from
Thompson’s fourth jump of 6.96. Behind her, Marion Jones’s 6.85w
just edged George’s Indian record of 6.83 for fifth place (or so it was
thought). The clean sweep was the first the event had seen, and the first
in any women’s event since 1980.
Vaszi originally placed eighth for the third Games in succession, but
because of the 2007 disqualification of Jones from Sydney and Athens,
the latter two placings were, eventually, upgraded to seventh.