Mike POWELL

Prior to 1988 Mike Powell had only shown glimpses of his capability as a long jumper, as he had progressively improved, increasing his personal best from 8.06m in 1983 to 8.27m in 1987. His first major international breakthrough came at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988. Powell had only just made it on the US team to go to Seoul. During the 1980s, the Long Jump had been dominated by Powell's compatriot Carl Lewis, the 1984 Olympic champion and there was every expectation that Lewis would successfully defend his Olympic title at Seoul. As expected, Lewis won the US Olympic Trials at Indianapolis on 18 July, producing the year's best leap of 8.76m. Veteran Larry Myricks jumped 8.74m to secure second place.

The competition for the third spot on the team was tight and Powell just scraped through on his last jump with a wind-assisted 8.36m, well behind the performances of Lewis and Myricks. When they arrived in Seoul, however, Powell soon made it clear that he was not just there to make up the numbers. He headed the field in the qualifying round, and in the third round of the final held on 26 September, Powell jumped (see photo above) a personal best of 8.49m, which proved good enough to earn him the silver medal behind Lewis (8.72m) and relegate Myricks to third place. Powell consolidated and continued to improve upon that form the next year, equalling his personal best of 8.49m in beating Myricks at Brussels in August, having earlier jumped a wind-assisted 8.55m at San Jose in May. In 1990, he won the first of his six US national championships and increased his personal best to 8.66m at Villeneuve d' Ascq. This jump moved him to fifth on the all-time list and only 0.13m behind Lewis. (Ron Casey)

One of the most venerable of World Records was Bob Beamon's Long Jump record of 8.90m set in the rarefied atmosphere of Mexico City at the 1968 Olympics. By the end of 1990, the great Carl Lewis had spent a decade chasing Beamon's record, but the closest he had ever got was 8.79m. During 1990 Mike Powell had emerged as another possible threat to Beamon's record, improving his personal best to 8.66m. At the US national championships, in New York on 15 June 1991, the pair gave an inkling that the days of the record might be numbered when Lewis leaped 8.64m to narrowly beat Powell by only 1 centimetre. This qualified both athletes for the 1991 World Championships to be held in Tokyo where they produced the greatest long jump competition in history.

In the final on 31 August, Lewis took the lead in round one and then in round three jumped a wind-assisted 8.83m, further than he had ever jumped before. Powell responded in round four with a close foul estimated to have been in the 8.80m range. Lewis immediately responded with a leap of 8.91m, better than Beamon's mark but unfortunately wind-assisted. On Powell's next attempt he sped down the runway, hit the board perfectly, launched himself into the air (see photo above) and landed very close to the nine-metre mark. The jump was measured at 8.95m, and as the wind assistance was legal, it meant that Mike Powell was the new World Record holder. Lewis closed with legal jumps of 8.87m and 8.84m. He had produced the greatest long jump series ever, bettering 8.80m on four occasions, but the day and the World Record, belonged to Mike Powell. Powell's victory also heralded the end of a winning streak of 65 successive wins by Lewis over a ten-year period. (Ron Casey)

After his spectacular season in 1991, which included winning the Tokyo World Championships, breaking Bob Beamon's venerable World Record and ending the ten-year winning streak of Carl Lewis, there was much expectation that Mike Powell would be able to continue this success in 1992 and win an Olympic gold medal. Powell started the season well, winning at Modesto on 16 May with a wind-assisted 8.90m. At the US Olympic Trials, held at New Orleans on 24 June, Powell repeated his previous year's defeat of Lewis, winning with a jump of 8.62m, with Lewis 0.09m behind in second place. The stage was set for a repeat of their showdown at Tokyo the previous year at the Olympic Games in Barcelona during August. Prior to the Olympics, on 21 July, Powell travelled to the high altitude resort of Sestriere in Italy, where, with altitude assistance, he produced an amazing series of 8.65m, 8.75m. 8.80m. 8.84m and 8.99m, all unfortunately with illegal wind assistance.

His 8.99m leap was the longest jump ever recorded under any conditions. In the Olympic final on 6 August, Lewis gained an early lead in round one, with a jump of 8.67m compared with Powell's first round leap of 7.95m. Lewis never bettered his first round jump, whereas Powell improved steadily, reaching 8.22m in round two, 8.33m in round three and 8.53m in round four. Powell put everything into his last attempt (see photo above © G.H.) and landed very close to Lewis' leading mark, but the jump was measured at 8.64m. Powell had to be content with his second successive Olympic silver medal. He closed his European season with an 8.57m victory at the ISTAF meet in Berlin on 21 August and another 8.57m win at the Van Damme memorial meet in Brussels one week later. (Ron Casey)

With Carl Lewis deciding not to compete in the Long Jump in 1993, Mike Powell was in a class of his own compared with the rest of the world's jumpers, winning all of his competitions easily in a long outdoor season stretching from a win at the Australian Championships in Brisbane on 7 March to his win at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on 4 October. His main goal for the year was to attempt to defend his World Championships title at Stuttgart in August, and three weeks before the World Championships he showed he was in top form by producing the year's longest jump of 8.70m at Salamanca. At Stuttgart on 20 August, he retained his world title easily, jumping 8.59m (see photo above 20th August 1993. photo G.H.), well ahead of the 8.16m of second placed Stanislav Tarasenko (Russia).

In 1994, Powell revisited the high altitude resort of Sestriere in Italy where he had jumped a wind-assisted 8.99m in 1992. On this occasion he inflicted another defeat on Carl Lewis jumping a wind-assisted 8.95m, equal to the distance of his 1991 World Record. In 1995, Powell won his fifth US national championships, beating Lewis at Sacramento on 18 June. However, Powell's main opposition in his quest to win a third World Championships gold medal at Gothenburg would come not from Lewis, but from Cuban Ivan Pedroso who dominated the world list that year. At Gothenburg, Powell finished third (8.29m) behind an 8.70m leap by Pedroso. In Powell's last season, in 1996, he again beat Lewis (3rd) when he won his sixth US national championships at Atlanta on 17 June. However, Lewis came good when it mattered most at the Olympic Games on 29 July, winning his fourth Olympic Long Jump gold medal and relegating Powell to fifth place. (Ron Casey)