Ailsa Harvey

 

The triple jump is a track and field event, which has been covered in the Olympic Games (in some form) since the ancient Greek Olympics. The event involves the competitor running down the track, and performing a ‘hop, skip and jump’ into a sand pit.

The ‘hop’ has to be made so that the athlete lands on the same foot they took off from, the ‘skip’ or ‘step’ then follows with the second landing being on the other foot and the final jump takes place with both feet in the sand pit.

While the long jump was indisputably part of some of the earliest Olympic Games, Historians looking back at results discovered that some of the jumps were recorded as longer than 50 feet. This led them to believe that a series of jumps had taken place, giving rise to the idea of triple jump.

Did you know…
– The current male and female World Record holders are Jonathan Edwards from Great Britain and Inessa Kravets from Ukraine. Edwards’ jump is recorded at 18.29 meters while Kravets reached a distance of 15.50 meters. Both of these records were set in the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg.
– Women’s triple jump was only added to the Olympic Games in 1996. Inessa Kravets won the gold, one year after her World Record.
– Recent studies by scientists showed that athletes in this sport exert a force of up to 22 times their body weight. This is the highest measured force that a human limb is exposed to during any intentional activity. Triple jumpers’ thigh and shin bones become thicker and denser to be able to withstand these huge forces.

Do you enjoy watching the Triple Jump? Would you like to see more coverage when the Olympics aren’t running? Let us know!