Athletics at the 1956 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump


These are the official results of the Men's Long Jump event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The qualifying stage and the final both were held on the second day of the track and field competition, on Saturday November 24, 1956.

Summary

The number one qualifier was Henryk Grabowski, but he was unable to produce similar results in the final. The world record was not in the discussion, with world record holder Jesse Owens sitting in the stands more than 21 years after he had jumped 8.13m. Owens also set the Olympic record at 8.06m in 1936. #2 qualifier John Bennett took the first round lead with a 7.68m jump. Dmitriy Bondarenko was in second with a 7.44m and in the first Olympics for Nigeria, Karim Olowu was in third with 7.28m. In the second round, Gregory Bell hit the winner,. In the third round, Jorma Valkama jumped into bronze position with a 7.48m. In the fourth round Bell reaffirmed his position with a 7.77m.

Qualification round

For the qualifying round, competitors needed to hit the standard of 7.15 meters in order to reach the final, with a minimum of 12 competitors making the final. Since 13 athletes hit the standard, no extra berths were given for the final. After an athlete met the standard in the qualifying round, they were not required to finish their three jumps, denoted by a dash in the table. A foul is denoted by an "X".
RankAthleteJump 1Jump 2Jump 3Best Jump
17.52--7.52 m
27.50--7.50 m
37.047.42-7.42 m
46.957.40-7.40 m
56.976.957.377.37 m
67.136.927.367.36 m
77.35--7.35 m
87.32--7.32 m
97.31--7.31 m
107.057.29-7.29 m
117.28--7.28 m
127.107.22-7.22 m
137.15--7.15 m
146.777.017.127.12 m
156.98X7.117.11 m
166.856.747.117.11 m
176.757.11X7.11 m
187.087.096.927.09 m
196.727.09X7.09 m
206.867.006.977.00 m
216.966.926.936.96 m
226.926.845.536.92 m
23X6.916.806.91 m
246.906.876.456.90 m
256.096.896.666.89 m
266.74XX6.74 m
276.626.516.286.62
28X6.58X6.58
29X6.53X6.53 m
306.136.105.906.13 m
315.796.015.966.01 m
32XXXNo Mark

Final round

The final round included all 13 competitors who had qualified earlier that day by reaching the mark of 7.15 meters. The finals format was set up in two sections. All 13 athletes made three jumps, and all but the best six jumpers were eliminated. Finally, three more jumps were contested for the top six; however, any jump made over all six attempts counted towards the final ranking. A dash means that the jumper elected not to attempt that round.
RankAthleteJump 1Jump 2Jump 3Jump 4Jump 5Jump 6Best Jump
6.987.837.77X-7.167.83 m
7.687.61X-X-7.68 m
7.11X7.487.077.227.007.48 m
47.44X7.13X6.896.997.44 m
57.286.777.366.42X6.917.36 m
67.276.927.306.957.036.947.30 m
7X7.28XOUTOUTOUT7.28 m
8X7.257.27OUTOUTOUT7.27 m
97.15X6.96OUTOUTOUT7.15 m
10XX7.15OUTOUTOUT7.15 m
117.147.067.05OUTOUTOUT7.14 m
12XX6.57OUTOUTOUT6.57 m
13XXXOUTOUTOUTNo Mark