The World Record Discrepancy

numbers don't lie you're probably very familiar with this expression and in most cases this statement does stand as an irrefutable fact two plus two equals four four plus four equals eight sixteen plus sixteen equals thirty-two when numbers are neatly aligned in a mathematical sense one logical answer is always present to the problem at hand but every now and then numbers that some perceive as fact are actually very far from the truth the use of statistics in sports has slowly evolved from a casual enjoyable hobby to a full-time job for many people like many other information-based industries the sporting world offers a fascinating and nearly endless matrix of unique data breakdowns and for most of these numerical trivia points they are in fact the truth for example michael jordan has won six nba titles a widely understood fact michael phelps has won 23 olympic gold medals another athletic fact most of the time the information we hear and understand goes unchallenged as the truth and in our hearts and our minds we truly believe this information is irrefutable out of all the sporting disciplines track and field just might be the most numerical based sport in the world how fast can you run how high can you jump how far can you throw from casual practice to international championship competitions every single moment of this sport revolves around time or distance performances and unlike any other athletic endeavor the statistical history of this sport arguably is unrivaled however out of every single statistical category the most fascinating and most studied area is without question world record performances it's easy to understand why people are so intrigued by world records it marks the single greatest performance in the history of any event the fastest mile is 343.13 set by hisham el garuge in 1999. the fastest 100 meter dash is 9.58 seconds set by usain bolt back in 2009 and the fastest marathon is 2 hours 1 minute and 39 seconds set by eliot kipchoge on september 16th of 2018. these numbers do represent what is officially understood as ratified world records but in one world record category the greatest performance ever is often challenged by another great moment that took place just a few years later and even though much uncertainty revolves around this performance it is still the centerpiece of conversation today [Music] [Applause] [Music] on august 30th of 1991 mike powell from the united states achieved a long jump of 8.95 meters breaking the previous world record of bob beeman who jumped 8.90 meters in the 1968 olympic games this performance came as a massive upset as powell's new world record was far enough to take down the nearly unbeatable carl lewis who had maintained an undefeated stretch for the previous 10 years for over three decades now powell's 8.95 has stood strong against any other competition however just four years after this iconic world record leap one man achieved a jump so far that it even outperformed mike powell's world record on july 29th of 1995 ivan pedroso from cuba stepped to the line of the men's long jump in sestriere italy up to this point in his 1995 campaign he already had one of the greatest long jumping seasons in history winning the indoor world championships with a new championship record going undefeated for 20 straight competitions and jumping well over 8 meters for every one of his 1995 performances the status of ivan pedroso during 1995 was incredible even against the legends of mike powell and carl lewis it was now widely accepted that he would be the ultimate successor to the long jumping throne and then on july 29th these expectations finally met reality with a wind legal jump of 8.96 meters pedroso had left to a remarkable distance that finally surpassed mike powell's world record however there was one unfortunate complication after this jump the wind reading was 1.2 meters per second far below the allowable limit of 2.0 and even though this jump was achieved under perceived legal conditions it was soon labeled as unofficial given that the wind gauge was quote unquote obstructed if we go back to this footage there was a man identified as luciano jimelo a former pole vaulter who is then a professional athletics coach in italy who for each one of pedroso's jumps stood directly in front of the wind reader blocking the wind from hitting the gauge with the true wind reading according to the italian athletics federation spokesperson enrico hakamini he stood half a foot in front of the anemometer for all of pedroso's jumps and given this bizarre circumstance he came to one simple conclusion we have a feeling he interfered with the wind this is not only an extremely uncommon occurrence but it's also very unfortunate given that he had just achieved a mark of 8.96 meters for this entire competition back in 1995 which included over 60 individual jumps the meat officials stated that only four were attempted with allowable wins and out of these four jumps three of these were pedrosos given this rare wind-reading circumstance it does seem likely that pedroso's jump was wind assisted but there is a chance albeit rather unlikely that his 8.96 meter long jump did in fact break the previous world record of mike powell now it's also important to mention that this long jump was achieved at high altitude as cestria italy sits at over 2000 meters in elevation this geographic advantage historically allows athletes to jump slightly farther than they would during competitions at sea level but even though this widely accepted advantage does allow for further distances it does not disqualify an athlete from a world record performance indeed the elevation and the wind appear to be significant factors toward this jump but sadly there will never ever be complete clarity toward this 8.96 meter leap at the time many believe that pedrosa's abilities could easily eclipse the previous world record of mike powell and and yet another amazing moment of greatness just two weeks after this 8.96 pedroso dominated the 1995 world championships winning with a second round effort of 8.70 meters a leap that to this day places pedroso in the top 10 all-time long jump given this huge championship moment it does make the possibility of achieving 8.96 meters a little bit more likely but also during this exact same 1995 season he achieved what just might be the single farthest jump in long jumping history [Music] on march 19th of 1995 pedroso took part in the pan american games in mardo plata argentina for this competition he was once again the heavy favorite for the victory and even though he officially won this competition with a fourth round jump of 8.50 meters for his sixth and final leap he achieved a jump which appeared to be just beyond the 9 meter barrier but sadly this jump was a foul if we slow down the footage here it does appear that his foot was placed just beyond the legal area for jumping but still this was a monumental leap for the long jump according to multiple long jumping sources this jump landed at 9.03 meters and even though we can't quite see exactly how far he's stepped over the line here it does seem as though this jump would have been over if not very close to 8.95 meters and for this competition all of his previous jumps were in fact wind legal performances it goes without saying that pedroso's 1995 season was astonishing not just for his amazing distances but for his incredible consistency for every one of his 28 competitions that year he eclipsed the 8 meter mark in every single event making this season one of the most impressive long jumping campaigns in history after 1995 pedroso only continued his dominance in the jumping world in 1997 1999 and in the year 2001 he won the world championships in this event and also in the year 2000 in the sydney olympics he finally took home the gold medal winning the olympic games with a huge jump of 8.55 meters out of all the jumpers in track and field history only 28 athletes have ever eclipsed the 8.50 meter barrier however for pedroso he managed to jump past this impressive distance in 26 separate competitions and for many of these competitions he jumped over 8.5 meters multiple times in the same event after achieving this 8.96 meter jump pedroso was asked about the prospects of this jump not becoming the official world record to which he replied i would be very disappointed but i am convinced i will be able to break an even bigger record in the future i have my eyes on the nine meter barrier there will never be an assured answer on this jump and even though ivan pedroso never went on to break the 9 meter mark he will always be remembered as one of the greatest long jumpers to ever live although most numbers stack up to a neat and orderly conclusion there are instances in the world of athletics where various points of information even a world record moment aren't exactly the greatest moments in a sports history [Music] even in the marathon where we previously stated that the world record was 2 hour 1 minute and 39 seconds kipchoge himself managed to run under two hours back in 2019 but given that this race was achieved under very controlled circumstances this one hour 59 minute and 40 second marathon was not eligible for world record considerations which meant that just like ivan pedroso's mark this one 5940 will always exist with a little asterisk next to the time it's easy to see the official list of world records as the end-all be-all for the greatest marks in track and field history but given the strange and peculiar circumstances of ivan pedroso back in 1995 this 8.96 meter jump will forever be buried under a mountain of suspicion but also under a small glimmer of hope [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Total Running Productions

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Id: 4FMHGjK9DGM

Length: 11min 21sec (681 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 11 2021