Long Jump Rules

I'm sure most of you would be familiar with the sport 'Long jump'. And for those of you who have never seen or heard about it, I have just one question for you. What planet are you from!!? After all, the long jump happens to be one of those basic sports which nearly every kid (both boy and girl) is introduced to, and some point or the other, in schools and colleges. Anyway, for those of you who are aware of the sport, and would like to know a few basic details regarding rules and regulations in the game of long jump, do read ahead.

Long Jump: Basics

Before we move into all the technicalities and rules of long jump, here are some long jump basics to get you started. As you all know, the long jump is a sport in which (as the name suggests), the athlete who jumps the longest (legally) wins. In a sentence, this is all that the sport is about - the athlete begins running from his or her starting position, he or she approaches the foul line, then takes off i.e. jumps from just behind the foul line, and lands in the sand pit. Now this entire process is governed by a certain set of rules. Let us see what they are.

Rules and Regulations

• No part of the athlete's foot should cross the front edge of the foul line. As the athlete runs towards the sand pit, if at his point of take-off, any part of his foot (even the toe edge of his shoe) crosses the front edge of the foul line, then the jump is termed to be illegal or a 'foul jump', and does not count.
• Typically, in International track and field events, a long jumper has three attempts to register his or her best legal jump. A foul jump means that particular attempt has gone waste. Only the farthest legal jump counts.
• The distance is measured from the front edge of the foul line to the athlete's backward-most point of landing. What this means is, if an athlete takes off from exactly the front edge of the foul line (without fouling), and jumps a distance of 15 feet, but while landing, his hands touch a foot behind his heels, then the total distance jumped is calculated as 14 feet. This is because the total distance jumped is measured as the distance from the front edge of the foul line, to the point where the athlete first makes contact with the ground (in this case, it is his hands, rather than his legs or buttocks).
• Similarly, even if the athlete takes off i.e. jumps from 6 cm behind the foul line, the starting point is still considered to be the front edge of the foul line (rather than the athlete's actual point of take off).
• Somersaults are not permitted (neither during the approach run, nor during the actual jump).
• Also, 13 mm is what the maximum thickness of a long jumper's shoe sole can be.
• In case of world records, if the wind speed exceeds 2 meters per second (in the direction in which the long jumper is running), then the record is not considered.

Before I sign off, here are a few more facts related to the long jump which I'm sure would interest you.

• The long jump is one of the world's oldest sporting events. It was one of the events at the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece, and back then, it was the sole jumping event.
• At the Olympics, the long jump is a part of the pentathlon, the heptathlon, and also the decathlon.
• The present world record (men's) is held by Mike Powell of the USA (8.95 meters). The women's world record is held by Galina Chistyakova (7.52 meters).

Well, this was a short overview of some basic rules and regulations of this fun sport called long jump. I hope it has boosted your knowledge of the sport. Here's where I sign off. Adios!