At 77, legendary Bob Beamon, author of an 8.90 m extraterrestrial jump in 1968, sells his gold medal at auction

Bob Beamon, le saut du siècle, en 1968 à Mexico. MAXPPP – Keystone Pictures USA

La médaille sera vendue aux enchères jeudi à New York par la société Christie's et pourrait rapporter entre 400 000 et 600 000 dollars. 

It was the long jump of the century and still an Olympic record, but American Bob Beamon will part with the gold medal he won at the Mexico Olympic Games-1968, after a historic leap to 8.90 m.

The medal will be sold at auction on Thursday in New York by the Christie's company, which values ​​it between 400,000 and 600,000 dollars, in a context of high prices. craze of collectors, ready to pay millions to treat themselves to souvenirs of legendary moments in sport.

I'm 77 years old (…) I took advantage of it

"I'm 77 years old (…) I took advantage of it (…) And the time has come for me to pass on (the medal) to someone who appreciates sporting achievement" made on October 18, 1968 at the University Olympic Stadium in Mexico, emphasized Bob Beamon, when asked why he was parting with this prestigious award.

An auction that preserves memories

"This auction was an excellent way to showcase the medal, but also to preserve its memory”, he adds, imagining that the The buyer, whether a collector or an institution, will want to exhibit it. as the Paris Olympic Games approach.

An extraordinary day, everything was perfect

This October 18, Bob Beamon remembers it as an "extraordinary day". Arriving in the final at the last minute, after two bad attempts in qualifying, the athlete is especially keen to validate his first jump while avoiding missing the board or its landing.

“To my great surprise, it wasn't just a (successful) jump, it was an incredible moment of history,” he recalls. "Everything was perfect, the wind was perfect, the weather was perfect".

With 8.90 m, he smashes the world record by 55 cm

At 8.90 m, the world record was shattered by 55 cm and we had to wait until the world championships in Tokyo in 1991, and the legendary duel between Mike Powell and Carl Lewis, to see better, with the 8-person jump, 95 m from Powell.

But 55 years and 13 editions of the Summer Olympics later, Bob Beamon still holds the Olympic long jump record. If Mexico-68 made history, it was above all for the gesture of American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, excluded for life from the Olympics after raising a black-gloved fist on the podium in the 200 meters in protest against discrimination against African-Americans in the United States.

The next day, Bob Beamon took the podium, black socks pulled up and visible, and he also raised his fist, in a similar gesture.

A passion for jazz and funk

Today, it is his newfound passion for music that excites him. Bob Beamon returned to drums and percussion, which he had abandoned as a teenager, "because sport came before everything else”.

Born in Queens, New York, Robert Beamon was less than a year old when his mother died of tuberculosis and he did not know his father. "My luck, he says today, is that I recorded an album with a jazz, funk, hip-hop group, which ;calls "Stix bones and the bone squad". And I'm having a lot of fun. Album title: "Olimpik Soul".