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Beamon made sport's greatest leap

By Larry Schwartz
Special to ESPN.com

Tuesday, August 29, 2000

Six seconds. That's all it took for Bob Beamon to leap into history. That's all it took for the slender 22-year-old long jumper to speed 19 strides down the runway, ascend to a height of six feet, stay up in the air like a bird and finally land an incomprehensible 29 feet, 2½ inches later. Of all Olympic records, none is as impressive as the one Beamon stunningly set Oct. 18, 1968 in Mexico City. Beamon didn't just set a record; he shattered one. He had leaped where no one had gone before. ...

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