With all this long jump talk I just remembered Ivan Pedroso who very briefly claimed the world record with a 8.96 but it was annulled because of a wind dispute. It's not really how it reads on wiki but as I remember he was actually thought of as the record holder for some time. Some months at least! In your head you had Ivan Pedroso is world record long jumper.

He was the dominant long jumper in the period following Powell and Lewis and won many world championships and could have had that world record also.

There are quite a few videos where jumpers miss out on some absurd jumps because they overstep. Including Lewis and Powell during that 1991 duel where they both go over 8.90 (though Lewis with wind) and I think even longer when overstepping. I have no idea how much advantage you gain by slightly overstepping other than the obvious:



Not that this one is slightly overstepping.

Love this photo

Are the javelins heavier nowadays? I recall my dad mentioning that at some point

yeah the DDR athlete in the video I posted Uwe Hohn started getting very close to throwing it all the way on to the running track, plus those javelins would often not land in the ground either but glide, so they made changes.

edit: what PeteBlow says below!

All in all I guess the problematic landings was the biggest issue setting about the change.

They haven't changed weight (800g for men, 600g for women). They moved the centre of gravity forward.
If you look at older footage, most throws would almost land flat. The change has meant they stick in the ground pretty much every time.

Someone will break it within 15 years like always. Lol 50 years

Although that record was dubious there is little doubt that Paul Anderson at his strongest had a much greater differential between him and the second strongest person on Earth at the time than has ever existed before or since. He was the Olympic gold medal winner in weightlifting at age 21 and then became far bigger and stronger afterwards when the Olympics was no longer available to him. His best lifts in the squat and one arm military press are probably in the same league as the world's best undrugged lifts today.

Johnny Gray's 600m world record has stood for 30 years and is unlikely to be broken any time soon.

Powell's long jump record is about as old now as Beaman's record was when Powel broke it (if that makes sense).
They should have a major track meet in Mexico City again. Who wouldn't want to watch that?

About nine million Mexicans, give or take?

It's really not accurate to keep a javelin record. It would be like comparing shot put records if they changed the weight of the shot.

just to recapitulate: Pete's right about the changes to javelins

- and the reason for the changes was to reduce the distances thrown - so that the javelin wouldn't reach/bounce to the track on the opposite side of the stadium

lol - Gray was a good, but that's it, 800m runner.

Thing about Bolt is he could've ripped off a 9.4 something at some point in his career, if he wasn't jacking around at the end looking around like anyone's going to beat him.

Don't really care how long any of them last. They're all stellar performances for their time period.

The 400m WR by Wayde Van Niekirk deserves much more attention than it has gotten, that's probably the most impressive thing I've ever seen done on a track. I imagine it will get eclipsed into the 42's eventually, but you'll never see someone running blind out of lane 8 set that kind of WR over top talent again. Ridiculous.

Yes. We all know what a god Michael Johnson was and for Wade to just smash his WR was utterly insane.

I think the womens 400 metres record will last at least 50 years from when it was set. Perec is the only athlete to get near it in the last 20 years and she was still like 0.6 seconds away.

No one will ever beat Bradman's record.

No one will ever touch Lamar's javelin record from '84.

For the latest LJ stuff, there's a handicapped German dude who jumps 8,40. That's Gold in Rio. He meant to compete there but they wouldn't let him.

whats his handicap

Lost his right leg from the knee down. His prosthesis might give him an advantage.

ah i did fear that might be the case. yea thats a problem

Flo-Jo's 100m mark may stand for ever since it's actually impossible for a genetic woman to run a sub 10.5 in the 100m without enormous chemical assistance.

Rudisha's 800m mark may take some time to beat. 21 of top 25 800m times ever are Rudisha, Kipketer (20 years ago), or Coe (35 years ago).