Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

Greg Rutherford entered as the 2012 Olympic champion and was also the reigning 2015 World Champion and 2016 European champion. American Jarrion Lawson was the top ranked athlete before the Olympics with his jump of 8.58 m and the next best entrant Michel Tornéus was European runner-up to Rutherford. Other strong entrants were Rushwal Samaai, Americans Mike Hartfield and Jeff Henderson, and 2015 world medallists Fabrice Lapierre and Wang Jianan.[2][3]

The only two automatic qualifiers were the round winners: Henderson in 8.20 m and Wang in 8.24 m. In a low quality display only four athletes went beyond eight metres. Defending champion Rutherford narrowly reached the final in tenth place after two fouls and a moderate third jump. Tornéus of Sweden was eliminated, as was American Hartfield, both failing to go beyond 7.70 m.[4]

From the first jumps the top four separated from the rest. Greg Rutherford jumped 8.18 m, Luvo Manyonga 8.16 m, Jeff Henderson 8.20 m, then Jarrion Lawson 8.19 m, all four within four centimetres at a distance no other jumper would match. In the third round Rutherford took the lead briefly with 8.22 m until Lawson bettered him with 8.25 m. In the fourth round, Manyonga took the lead with 8.28 m, then Rutherford moved into second with an 8.26 m. In the fifth round, Manyonga took first place with a personal best of 8.37 m and kept the lead into the final round with three jumpers to go. On his last attempt, Henderson jumped from fourth to first with a 8.38 m (27 ft 5 ³⁄₄ in). Rutherford tried to answer but his 8.29 m left him in third. On the final jump of the competition, American collegian Lawson jumped close to Henderson's mark, but his hand inadvertently dragged in the sand at shoulder level costing him an advancement into the medals.[5][6][7]

The medals were presented by Adam Pengilly, IOC member, Great Britain and Anna Riccardi, Council Member of the IAAF.

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete jumped three times (stopping early if they made the qualifying distance). At least the top twelve athletes moved on to the final; if more than twelve reached the qualifying distance, all who did so advanced. Distances were reset for the final round. Finalists jumped three times, after which the eight best jumped three more times (with the best distance of the six jumps counted).

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)

Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95 m	Tokyo, Japan	30 August 1991
Olympic record	Bob Beamon (USA)	8.90 m	Mexico City, Mexico	18 October 1968
2016 World leading	Jarrion Lawson (USA)	8.58 m	Eugene, United States	3 July 2016