Charles Hartley, a free-lance writer based in New Jersey, has written more than a thousand published sports articles. He earned Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Journalism. In addition, he was awarded his Bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University where he majored in English and Communications
The year was 1968. The place was Mexico City. The event was the Olympics long jump.
American Bob Beamon lifted off and flew through the air – and flew, and flew, and flew. As soon as his feet hit the sand, officials had to use a special manual measuring tape. It took them more than 10 minutes to calculate the distance.
He had jumped 29 feet 2 and one-quarter inches – nearly two feet further than any long jumper ever had. Jumping that much further than anyone was not even an idea – except that one time
Overcome with shock and emotion, Beamon fell to the ground and had a seizure. Olympic historians labeled this feat the greatest in the history of the Games.
Five years later at the Belmont Stakes a horse named Secretariat – think Michael Phelps — beat the field by 31 lengths and the track record by two and three-fifths of a second. “That is a record that will stand forever,” a broadcaster said at the time.
Forty-three years later at this month’s Olympics, Katie Ledecky broke her own world record in the 800 meter freestyle by two seconds in a time of 8 minutes and four seconds. She finished 12 seconds ahead of the second place swimmer – yes, 12 seconds, an extreme rarity in swimming and a sign of utter and almost freaky superiority.
This swim for the ages by Ledecky is comparable to Beamon’s and Secretariat’s as one of the most astounding and dominant single sports.
What she did was amazing, memorable, and otherworldly. Like those who saw Beamon make that spellbinding jump and Secretariat annihilate the field, many of us will remember watching Ledecky touch the wall in the 800 freestyle 12 lengths ahead. You almost never see that in world-class swimming events.
There she was, by herself, done with the race, for a long, long time before the second place finisher was done.
Beamon was all by himself that day he jumped to the moon. Secretariat was alone in his greatness at the Belmont sprinting into the stratosphere. And Ledecky was on that wall in a swimming universe only she has been.
There were other marvelous swimming achievements at this month’s Games. Ryan’s Murphy’s world record in the 100 meter backstroke was incredible. Adam Peaty’s 100 meter breaststroke time of 56.59 shocked the swimming world. Who will ever be able to break that except him? Maybe no one.
As great as these and other swimming achievements were, Ledecky’s 800 freestyle annihilation of the field stands above all other Olympic swims. It belongs in the same conversation as Beamon’s and Secretariat’s as the greatest single-event sporting achievement ever.
This was written by and courtesy of Charles Hartley.
Adam Peaty was the most impressive male along with Phelps. I think a 55 split for Peaty is possible in the future… that would be INSANE. Remember back then when they were going 1:00 or 59 high?
The author did a terrible job setting the scene for Beamon’s jump. There was an electronic sensor being used to measure the distances jumped, and Beamon jumped beyond the maximum range of the sensor! The officials bantered about for 10 minutes before being able to find a steel tape to measure the “old fashioned” way.
I totally agree with Jim Graham, here. It’s apples and oranges to compare Ledecky with Beamon. Beamon’s jump was far and away a more unexpected performance, not bettered for decades, and a more dramatic improvement over the WR. OOTH, Ledecky’s peformance – and margin of victory – while totally expected can’t be seen in a vacuum independent of her consistent dominance of the distance… Read more »
Ledecky is astonishing and I fully expect her to continue on to cement her place forever in swimming history. But she’s not the first woman to win events by these margins in swimming: Claudia Kolb won the womens 400 IM in Tokyo by 14 seconds. Her time, at the time, (5:08) was considered as astonishing as Ledecky’s 400 or 800 today. Janet Evan’s 400 free WR stood for 18 years. Her 800 free WR stood for 19 years. She frequently won events by half a 50-M pool length or more. All I’m sayin: there are precedents for Ledecky who shouldn’t be forgotten and deserve an occasional mention in these kinds of discussion.
I bet Ledecky’s records won’t last as long as Janet Evans’s records. As great as she is, we may have seen Ladecky at her peak. Not many women distance swimmers perform well into their twenties. Also she took a year off from school to focus completely on Rio. That won’t happen at Stamford. So savor what we just saw, because we may be waiting a while to see it again.
And Mike Powell’s long jump record won’t last as long as Bob Beamon’s–or so we might have thought in 1991. It has actually lasted longer and it still hasn’t been broken.
Caulkins’ 400 IM in 1984 was won by 25 meters roughly.
Caulkins won by 9.06 s–which would be about 14 or 15m or possibly less if other racers faded at the end.
I say this as a huge Ledecky fan, but Beamon is in a world of his own here. Putting things in context, in the early 60s the long jump record was going up by an inch or so per year for a while, 27-1… 27-2… 27-3… and in 1967 stood at 27ft 4 3/4in. Then Beamon jumped 29-2 1/2 in Mexico City. That margin is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. To get a comparable percentage drop in the 800 (to Adlington’s old mark), Ledecky would’ve had to swim a 7:41.55. Or a 3:43.40 in the 400 (compared to Pellegrini’s).
Ledecky is a historically amazing swimmer, with who knows how many mind-boggling swims ahead of her. Maybe she can even break 8 at… Read more »
Sure, Mr Revzin knows how to play with data to support his strange point. The usage of tech suit circus records as a benchmark is a very clever trick. On the other hand as a real fan of Katie Ledecky he at least doesn’t go that far by taking us into animals world in search of a proper measure of Katie’s achievements. Thank you.
Re. Phelps. He was never that dominant in terms that all his spectacular and impressive wins were done in competition. In his dreams he could do from 52.6 r through 15:25. And the world records that he is still holding are from 2008-2009 suit era. Ask him what he thinks about Ledecky’s dominance and her… Read more »
If his wins were not all done in competition, in what context did his wins come? Methinks thou shouldst drop the le.
He was favorite in many of his races. Were there any cases when he could swim at prelim level efforts to win final? I don’t recall it. That’s what I meant. Sorry if it was confusing.
Prickle is right.
Phelps won his races and was favorite in many events, but he was never as dominant in those races as Ledecky in 400/800/1,500
The only time when Phelps was nearly Ledeckian was in 200 fly in 2007 Melbourne World Championships.
For sure- Phelps was nearly Ledeckian was in 200 fly in 2007 Melbourne World Championships. That may be my favorite MP race. Does anyone know if he wore a different suit in Rome when he went 1:51 compared to 2007 1:52? Thanks in advance
In Melbourne he wore an FSII, whereas in Rome he wore a LZR.
I actually like Ledecky’s 400 a little more than her 800. Peaty dominated his race more than the Ledeky did any of hers. But I lean toward Ledecky as the swimmer of the meet for her overall performance.
I agree re: the 400. I thought her 800 in Kazan was her most impressive showing, but the 400 in Rio really too me by surprise. I didn’t expect that big of a drop.
I’m not sure why, and I saw this during NBC’s at times nauseating commentary, but we seem to be always looking now for “that one great achievement” – to the point that we call very good, and even excellent, performances and proclaim them to be the greatest of all time! At least, that is, until the next time. I got tired of hearing Dan Hicks constantly refer to Phelps as “the greatest Olympian of all time” and give a tote-board tally of the growing Phelps medal count. We are aware of his accomplishments – we don’t need to be reminded of that moniker every 5 minutes! Same thing with that knucklehead doing the women’s gymnastics – Captain Overly Dramatic. I… Read more »
Don’t get me wrong – I am a huge fan of hers and her amazing talents. She is an obviously very driven, talented, hard working athlete who is doing things not done in quite a while (200, 400, 800 Gold) and – especially in light of recent events – her modesty is a breath of fresh air. Even when prompted by Michele Tafoya to trumpet her achievements, Katy was very gracious and focused on achieving her own goals. I’m just not sure I’d put her swims alongside some of the most jaw-dropping sporting results of modern times. I thoroughly look forward to seeing her swim in multiple future Olympics.
That IS “the most jaw-dropping sporting results of modern times”
The fact that it was achieved in several incredible by itself steps but not in one single like Bob Beamon jump doesn’t make it lesser, but makes this mark even more impressive.
I’m glad she has your approval! I’m sure it means a lot to her.
Ledecky is amazing. No arguing that.
HOWEVER!! Speaking of Adam Peaty, his World record time in his individual 100m Breaststroke, from a percentage standpoint, is of a GREATER margin of victory than Ledecky’s 800m Free. Seems nitpicky, but we should be in a sport that analyzes everything to get us a .01 advantage.
Now, what you do when you make statements like that, or I make statements like the one I just did, is compare separate disciplines and separate distances which involve MASSIVELY different training strategies and approaches in racing. So, it’s not really right to make the statement one way or another.
But, maybe look a little harder at times and the fundamental math of it all… Read more »
All swimming world records at this Olympic Games were of high quality and won’t be beaten soon:
(listed alphabetically)
Australia 4×100
Hosszu 400IM
Ledecky 400
Ledecky 800
Murphy 100BK
Peaty 100 BR
Sjostrom 100BU
There is no sense in trying to compare them on the greatness scale. Measuring them by the dominance or size of drop doesn’t help much. You can easily find even more impressive cases in the history of world records in swimming.
Special thanks to Ryan Murphy for beating high-tech suite record.
i don’t agree. Beamon was a one-trick pony. Meaning that he jumped that distance once, and once only and it was totally unanticipated. If Katie had gone 3:49, which i think a female will do some day, then it would have been a Beamonesque. Otherwise, although she is way ahead of the field, she has done it progressively since 2012.
btw, does anyone have the Beamon’s jump. its worth watching ! totally shocked everyone including the Beamon.
It is on youtube., I played it for kids last week.