Greg Bell (athlete)

Gregory Curtis " Greg" Bell ( born November 7, 1930 in Terre Haute, Indiana ) is a former American track and field athlete. It was 1956 Olympic champion in the long jump.

Career

At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, he won Olympic record of 7.83 meters. He had won 15 centimeters ahead of his compatriot John Bennett, of silver. 1959 Bell took the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Chicago. From 1956 to 1959 he led the global leaderboard in the long jump. With 8.09 meters (1956) and 8.10 m (1957 and 1959 ), he came up almost to the age-old world record of Jesse Owens, who jumped 8.13 meters in 1935. 1955 and 1959 he was national champion in the open air, 1958 in the hall.

Greg Bell is 1,74 m tall and weighed 68 kg in his playing days. After his career, he worked as a dentist. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.