Athletics at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Men's long jump

This was the 18th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 1972 Games were the three medalists (Randy Williams of the United States, Hans Baumgartner of West Germany, and Arnie Robinson of the United States) as well as ninth-place finisher Valeriy Podluzhniy of the Soviet Union, tenth-place finisher Jacques Rousseau of France, and twelfth-place finisher Grzegorz Cybulski of Poland. The returning pair, along with new teammate Larry Myricks, were favored with a sweep considered a possibility.[2]

Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji, the Ivory Coast, Lebanon, and Trinidad and Tobago each made their first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 18th time, the only nation to have long jumpers at each of the Games thus far.

The 1976 competition used the two-round format with divided final introduced in 1952. The qualifying round gave each competitor three jumps to achieve a distance of 7.80 metres; if fewer than 12 men did so, the top 12 (including all those tied) would advance. The final provided each jumper with three jumps; the top eight jumpers received an additional three jumps for a total of six, with the best to count (qualifying round jumps were not considered for the final).[2][3]

The standing world and Olympic records prior to the event were as follows.

World record	Bob Beamon (USA)	8.90	Mexico City, Mexico	18 October 1968
Olympic record	Bob Beamon (USA)	8.90	Mexico City, Mexico	18 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

All times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

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