Mike Powell (athlete)

Michael Anthony " Mike" Powell ( born November 10, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ) is a former American track and field athlete, he is since 1991 with a width of 8.95 m world record holder in the long jump.

The record jump

Powell exceeded 8.95 m on 30 August 1991 in the long jump final battle at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, the legendary record of 8.90 m, the 1968 aufstellte his compatriot Bob Beamon at the Olympic Games in Mexico and 23 years stock had.

In an exciting duel with the multiple Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, he won the world title thanks to the step. Lewis scored during the previous best long jump competition in his fourth jump a distance of 8.91 m, but with too strong tailwind, so that the record could not be counted. Even in his fourth jump Powell had come very close to the world record and had so indicated that he was in fantastic shape; However, this attempt was counted as invalid. After two less brilliant jumps he broke in his fifth attempt with a perfect jump world record, jumping 8.95 meters wide. Lewis, who in this competition, the best series of his entire career jumped ( four jumps over 8.80 meters) and once again came up to 8.84 m, despite further huge leaps could not break the world record of Powell.

Here the exact development of the competition:

In retrospect, was trying to understand why it happened to be come that day to such a series of both Springer. Unlike the record Beamon too high a tail wind and a failure at the wide spee could be excluded. Thus, suspicion fell on a too elastic springboard. This, however, could no longer be consider as the board had since been renewed under a regular maintenance of the stadium. Only the runway proved to be exceptionally flexible - you no longer reflects today covering the rules of the IAAF.

More career

In Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992 he won the silver medal behind Lewis at the Olympic Games. In 1993 he successfully defended his title successfully.

After the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta Powell announced his retirement from active competition, but returned back in 2001, in order to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, which he did not succeed.

Mike Powell was presented at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka awarded the International Fair Play Award by the IAAF in 2007. The prize is awarded every two years to athletes who work on and off the career model for athletics. Powell currently works as a coach at the University of California and is an ambassador for the IAAF go.

Personal best

571996
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