India’s only athlete in the Men’s Long Jump event at 2016 Rio Olympics, Ankit Sharma, was knocked out in the qualifying round itself as he managed a distance of 7.67 metres, which put him in 24th place over. He was the only long jumper who had made his way to the 2016 Rio Olympics for India and had qualified with a jump of 8.17 metres at an event in Kazakhstan in June 2016.
But once the event in Rio started, it looked like the athlete, who was placed in Group B of the qualification event, lacked practice and confidence. Every athlete was either required to jump over a given limit of 8.15 metres or had to be amongst the top 12 performers in the event in order to qualify for the finals.
Sharma saw himself getting fouled out in the first two of the three available attempts to jump over 8.15 metres. This left the jumper with just one attempt left to make it through to the finals as it was a do-or-die moment for the 24-year old as he had to jump above the given distance or better the record of the jumpers who had qualified before him.
The Indian could only manage to pull off a distance of 7.67 metres in his third attempt in the qualifiers which placed him 12th in Group B and 24th in overall standings combined of the two groups A and B. This result sees India’s bid to failed yet again in athletics but the fans will hope there is still light at the end of the tunnel for the nation’s athletes.
The long-jump qualification event for the finals saw many athletes put in some amazing performances as China’s Jianan Wang finished the qualification round as the best performer with a distance of 8.24 metres and was followed by USA’s Jeff Henderson who jumped a distance of 8.20 metres – both the jumpers reached the distance in their first and only attempt.
Here is the complete list of athletes who have qualified for the finals of the men’s long jump event in Rio:
1. Jianan Wang (China) – 8.24m
2. Jeff Henderson (USA) – 8.20m
3. Emiliano Lasa (Uruguay) – 8.14m
4. Luvo Manyonga (South Africa) – 8.12m
5. Rushwal Sawaai (South Africa) – 8.03m
6. Henry Frayne (Australia) – 8.01m
7. Jarrion Lawson (USA) – 7.99m
8. Fabrice Lapierre (Australia) – 7.96m
9. Changzhou Huang (China) – 7.95m
10. Greg Rutherford (Great Britain) – 7.90m
11. Kafetian Gomis (France) – 7.89m
12. Damar Forbes (Jamaica) – 7.85m
