Long Jump, Men

Among the 18 final entries, nine competitors started in the broad jump, now usually called the long jump. There were three Americans, two Greeks, two Frenchmen, one German, and one Swede.

Very little is known about this competition except that it was won by Ellery Clark, who would later also win the high jump. His winning mark was 6.35 metres, with the USA sweeping the medals, Bob Garrett finishing second, and James Connolly third.

Clark made his winning leap on his last of three attempts, and wrote of it in his autobiography, Reminiscences of an Athlete, “It was little short of agony, I shall never forget my feelings as I stood at the end of the path for my third – and last – try. Five thousand miles, I reflected, I had come; and was it to end in this? Three fouls and then five thousand miles back again, with that for my memory of the Games.”