The Standing Jumps in the Olympics
- The Olympic Games between 1900 and 1912 included
the Standing Long Jump and Standing High Jump events (the 1900 and 1904 Games included the Standing
Triple Jump as well). The Long Jump in particular cannot have been the greatest of spectator events.
- The photograph on the right shows the 1912 Standing High Jump winner (Platt Adams of the USA) in action
in the Standing Long Jump, using one regular technique in which the athlete leant forward as far as
they dared before their leap. It didn't win Mr. Adams the Gold, which went to C. Tsiclitiras of Greece
with 3.37m.
-
The star of the Standing events was the American Ray Ewry (in the photo on the left),
who won 10 Gold medals over three Olympics (plus the 1906 Athens 'Intercalcated Games' which the IOC
no longer recognise as a Games although many Olympic historians do). Not bad for someone who contracted
severe Poliomyelitis as a child, which doctors thought might
prevent him from ever walking properly again.