His career-best long jump was only 27.3 feet. The world record had only been broken 13 times since 1901. And he wasn't even the favorite at those 1968 Mexico City Olympics; Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union was. So when Jamaica, N.Y.'s Bob Beamon shattered the world long jump record, the world was stunned. His leap of 29-feet, 21/2-inches bettered Ralph Boston's 1965 mark of... Read on
