Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump

The Men's triple jump competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 16–17.[1] With the best athletes jumping at high altitude in the Olympics, the world record was set multiple times. Prior to the event, Józef Szmidt had held the world record for eight years and also held the Olympic record since the previous Olympics.

Men's triple jump at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Venue	Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Date	October 16–17
Competitors	34 from 24 nations
Winning distance	17.39 WR
Medalists
Viktor Saneyev  Soviet Union Nelson Prudêncio  Brazil Giuseppe Gentile  Italy

Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Track events
100 m	men	women
200 m	men	women
400 m	men	women
800 m	men	women
1500 m	men
5000 m	men
10,000 m	men
80 m hurdles		women
110 m hurdles	men
400 m hurdles	men
3000 m steeplechase	men
4×100 m relay	men	women
4×400 m relay	men
Road events
Marathon	men
20 km walk	men
50 km walk	men
Field events
Long jump	men	women
Triple jump	men
High jump	men	women
Pole vault	men
Shot put	men	women
Discus throw	men	women
Javelin throw	men	women
Hammer throw	men
Combined events
Pentathlon		women
Decathlon	men

The world and Olympic record were smashed in the qualifying round by Giuseppe Gentile, with a 17.10 on his second attempt (after fouling the first).

The following day in the final, Gentile improved upon his record in the first round, jumping 17.22. In the third round, Viktor Saneyev improved upon the record by one centimeter. In the fifth round Nelson Prudêncio took the lead and the record. On his last attempt, Saneyev hit the winner and new record of 17.39 m (57 ft ¹⁄₂ in).

The record lasted for three years until it was improved upon by Pedro Pérez. One year later, Saneyev brought the record with a 17.44 that lasted 3 years. In 1975 in this same stadium, João Carlos de Oliveira made a .45 m (1 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) "beamonesque" improvement to the record that held for almost 10 years. The record was brought down to sea level by Willie Banks in 1985.[2]

During the competition, five men exceeded the previous world record though Nikolay Dudkin's jumps were wind aided. Phil May and Szmidt jumped further than his Olympic record in sixth and seventh place respectively.