Gold medal distances in the triple jump at the Summer Olympics 1896-2020

The triple jump has been a permanent fixture in the men's Olympic schedule since 1896, and the women's event was added to the Olympic calendar one hundred years later in the Atlanta Games of 1996. The men's Olympic record was set by the U.S.' Kenny Harrison in 1996, with a jump of 18.09 meters (Mike Conley's winning jump in 1992 is not considered an Olympic record, as there was a wind assistance of 2.1 meters per second), and the men's world record was set by Great Britain's Jonathan Edwards in 1995, with his jump of 18.29 meters. The women's world and Olympic records were set in 2020 by Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas, with a jump of 15.67 meters; this beat the previous world record that had stood since 1995.

Most successful athletes

The Soviet Union's Viktor Saneyev is the sport's most successful Olympian, winning three consecutive golds and one silver between 1968 and 1980, while four other men and one woman have also won two back-to-back golds. The United States has had the most success in the event, with eight golds in the men's event, while Françoise Mbango Etone's two golds in the women's event makes Cameroon the most successful nation in the women's event. Since 2008, in the women's event, the silver medallist has gone on to win gold in the following tournament; this may be good news for Portugal's Patrícia Mamona who took silver in Tokyo.

1980 controversy

The 1980 Summer Olympics were already shrouded in controversy following the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, leading to a U.S.-led boycott of 66 nations. Because of this boycott, the Soviet Union would go on to win 80 out of 204 gold medals; however there were also accusations of foul play by officials in the men's diving and triple jump events. In the triple jump, it was ruled that Australia's Ian Campbell had committed a foul in five of his six jumps, while Brazil's world record holder João Carlos de Oliveira was deemed to have fouled four times. Both men had jumped further than the leader on several occasions, but despite the athletes' protestations and independent officials' disagreements, the Soviet judges upheld the decisions and the gold and silver medals went to two Soviet athletes (de Oliveira took the bronze, and Campbell finished in fifth). There were also suggestions that the plasticine (used to determine whether a jump was foul or not) had been tampered with following one of Campbell's jumps, as the mark was not on the side of the board where his foot would have taken off from.