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

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.[3]

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.[4][5][6]

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

This was the 28th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The returning finalists from the 2012 Games were gold medalist Greg Rutherford of Great Britain, fourth-place finisher Michel Tornéus of Sweden, ninth-place finisher Henry Frayne of Australia, and twelfth-place finisher Tyrone Smith of Bermuda.

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 (2015 Pan Am champion), and 2015 world medallists Fabrice Lapierre and Wang Jianan.[7][8][2]

Albania made its first appearance in the event. The United States appeared for the 27th time, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's long jump event if all athletes meet the entry standard during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard was 8.15 metres. The qualifying period was from 1 May 2015 to 11 July 2016. The qualifying distance standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were accepted. NOCs could also use their universality place—each NOC could enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the long jump.[9][10]

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete jumped three times (stopping early if they made the qualifying distance of 8.15 metres). 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).

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records, and season leading distance, were as follows.

World record	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95	Tokyo, Japan	30 August 1991
Olympic record	Bob Beamon (USA)	8.90	Mexico City, Mexico	18 October 1968

2016 World leading

Jarrion Lawson (USA)

8.58

Eugene, United States

3 July 2016

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

All times are Brasilia Time (UTC-3)