by Larry EderThe men’s long jump was one of the closest ever, as the three medals were separated by one centimeter!
This all came down to the final three jumps. And the last round changed all three medals!
Aleksandr Menkov took the lead in round 2, with a fine 8.22m, his series was 8.12m, 8.22m, foul, foul, 8.10m, then a final foul. He lead from rounds two to five. Then, all hell broke loose!
Mauro Vinicus Da Silva of Brazil took the gold medal here, with a fifth round jump of 8.23m. His series was 7.73m, foul, foul, 7.77m, 8.23m, and finally, another 8.23m. Da Silve took the lead from Menkov on his fifth round! Da Silve cemented his victory with a final round of 8.23m!
Henry Frayne of Australia was the silver, loosing the gold on due to the superiority of Da Silva’s second jump (8.23m)! Frayne’s series was 8.17m, foul, foul, foul, 7.89m and 8.23m. Frayne put Menkov back in third on his final jump.
Will Claye of the US was fourth in 8.04m. Ndiss Kaba Badji, Senegal, was fifth in 7.97m, and Louis Tsatoumas of Grenada was sixth with a jump of 7.88m.
