18 Oct 1968: Bob Beamon #254 of the USA breaking the Long Jump World Record during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico. Beamon long jumped 8.9 m (29 ft 2 1/2 in), winning the gold medal and setting a new world record. It is the first jump over 28 ft. The most famous long jump ever achieved: Bob Beamon of the United States takes off for a place in sporting history as he leaps 8.90 metres at the Mexico City Games of 1968. While the middle distance runners from the low level countries floundered in the thin air of Mexico City, those in the explosive events reached new peaks, none higher than Beamon, who added 58 centimetres to the world record with a jump aided by a wind of 2 metres per second the very limit of wind assistance. In Imperial measure terms it looked even more impressive since he missed out 28 feet, taking the record to 29 ft 2 ins. Yet Beamon never again managed a jump of 27 feet. It was twelve years before anyone else reached 28 feet (8.53 metres) and the record stood until 1991 when Mike Powell of the US leapt 8.95 metres in Tokyo to win the world title. His jump was at sea level and wind assistance of 0.3mps. Mandatory Credit: Tony Duffy /Allsport
He was focused. He stared down the runway thinking through the details necessary to create an exceptional performance. This was his time to shine.
He wasn’t the favourite though. He didn’t hold the world record. If he jumped a personal best perhaps he could win Olympic gold. But what he was about to achieve was not simply his best. It would be the best performance in all human history. And not just by a smidgen, by the largest margin ever witnessed in the annuls of global competition…
Bob Beamon was about to eradicate the world record in the long jump during the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City with a jump of 29 feet 2 ½ inches. He shattered the current world record by close to 2 feet.
To understand the magnitude of this record: since 1901 the world record had been broken 15 times by a margin of between ¼ and 6 inches. The greatest margin the record had ever been previously broken by was only 6 inches. Beamon broke the record by 21 ¾ inches. It was considered a superhuman accomplishment.
Beamon’s world record stood untouchable for 23 years until 1991 when Mike Powell bested Beamon’s jump by 1 ¾ inches. Powell’s record still stands today.
Beamon’s jump was arguably the greatest long jump the world has ever seen.
I trained for long jump when I was at university. Sadly, due to injury, my long jump aspirations were cut short. I had the basic raw materials of speed and spring, but couldn’t end up putting them together to create an exceptional jump.
I have since learned that, for the most part, we all have a natural ability in the long jump. We can all jump that’s for sure. We often jump into emotional propensities that we shouldn’t. We can all have a certain default when it comes to our emotional or mental state. We all have certain emotional or mental defaults that can become our overriding mindset if we do not catch ourselves before we jump.
What do I mean?
Well, for example, if I do not focus on the Truth I have a propensity to jump into criticism and judgment. Before I realize it I can find myself being critical and judgmental of someone. The Holy Spirit has to help me see how I am being critical and judgmental. It may be something that is left unsaid, but it still resides in my heart.
We have a friend who has a propensity to jump into fear and worry. Before she realizes it she can be deep into fear and worry that she needs the Lord’s help to get out of. Again, she needs the Holy Spirit to help her see what she has jumped into so she can choose to jump into the Truth instead.
We all have a tendency to jump into mindsets that are not rooted in the Truth – they are tied to our sin nature, to “the flesh” as scripture points out. We can jump into guilt and shame. We can jump into anger and rage. We can jump into envy and jealousy. We can jump into self-hatred and rejection. We can jump into alienation and isolation. We can jump into negativism and pessimism. We can jump into self-pity and self-centeredness. There is no shortage to the negative mindsets and emotions we can jump into.
What we have a tendency to jump into is rooted in lies we have believed for decades.
Even though we can jump into all manner of negative mindsets, I believe there is a particular mindset we each have a tendency to jump into. Sure, we all have the capacity to jump into all manner of sinful thinking and habits, but I think we are all uniquely wired to a particular default pattern. I believe our key to getting free from this negative repetitive process is to ask the Lord to show us what we tend to jump into.
So what mindset do you tend to jump into? Ask the Lord to help you see it, and then to help you jump into the Truth instead.
You don’t want to be adept at this kind of jumping.
Romans 8:5, 6
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
Ephesians 4: 22-24
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”