New long jump rule?

There's no reason why in this day and age you actually need an official to watch the board to determine fair or foul. That's what they make cameras and lasers for.

You could have 1 official to literally watch the camera replay if a foul occurred.

Measuring from take off point to landing point is equally as dumb.

Edit: the camera/laser system might not be possible at the high school level due to cost.

If lasers and cameras can call balls and strikes in a baseball game, the same tech can be used to measure the long jump with a variable start point. I think it's a great idea. How much of the event is hampered by trying to hit the board perfectly? Give them a foot long zone and let them fly.

This rule, if adopted down to high school and age-group level, will effectively kill the event and severely damage the sport.

1. I'll start with my opinion that long jump parents and coaches are the worst. They are the most vocal and aggressive fans in the sport. As an official, I have only ever been screamed at or threatened by the aforementioned individuals. They always question fouls, demand courtesy measurements, ask to examine the tape, and file protests. It's non-stop, scary, and I refuse to judge long jump any longer.

2. Most other officials feel the same way. There is already a huge shortage of certified officials due to age and younger blood not stepping up to become officials. If LJ parents and coaches start beefing over every measurement ("Whoa! My athlete took off five centimeters behind where you placed the tape!"), the officials are going to quit in droves. No volunteer or low paid official should have to deal with that crap.

3. Lose officials or have violent confrontations at track meets, then LJ will no longer be offered or meets will fold completely to avoid liability.

Most coaches and parents at track meets are pretty chill except for long jump. If the take-off point becomes somewhat arbitrary and subject to a retiree's vision, then all hell is going to break loose. In some places, assaults or even shootings will happen. This isn't hyperbole. It's been getting worse for years as angry Little League parent behavior invades our sport.

Stupid

Are they also now going to convert for distance runners running an extra small amount of distance because they are in lane 2-3 for part of the race? Or for a pole vaulter who clears the bar by several inches? This is ridiculous

I don't know where you officiate but I have not seen much of this in Colorado, and I've run a fair number of long jump competitions here. You could sprinkle a little bit of chalk dust or put down a sheet of plastic in the take-off zone and then you can point to the mark the athlete's foot made where they took off. When the take-off zone gets too chewed up you put some more chalk down or pull up the old sheet of plastic and put a new one down. If anything I think this has the potential to reduce conflicts over scratches.

At any rate if WA does go down this path it will be years before it trickles down to college and eventually high school (if ever), and by then someone will have a solution for marking the takeoff step.

No doubt the technology exists to measure the contact point on a plate electronically.

Alternatively it is possible to use cameras to detect the take off point. We use cameras to detect finish timing and place. It is basically the same technology.

human long jumping peaked in the 1990s, or likely even before, as those Powell/Lewis marks were probably all stealth wind-aided.

No jumper comes anywhere near their marks anymore. It's impossible. The species is weak. Better to declare the event finished than to cheat by changing the rules.

My proposal is a long jump off a ramp. Have an adjustable ramp, and the jumper can set the height wherever. If they set it higher, it will be at a steeper angle, so there will be some optimal setting for each one. Distance is measured from the edge of the ramp, and would be really far. You want people to watch? It would look like high-flying X games stuff.

Relax. Kids won't be using this. You seriously think every track in the country is going to install laser measuring technology?

Very stupid. A major part of the skill of long jump is hitting the board properly. This changes the event entirely.

Why not do your long jump anywhere you please and send in a video for it to be measured. The event is in a slump because the sub 10 100m guys don’t do it anymore. Lewis and Powell put the event out of reach because they were incredible athletes. Now the every-one-gets-a-trophy generation want the rules changed. The current crop of long jumpers look like band kids in line at the middle school nurses office getting their autism and asthma medication.

I think this is an interesting argument so i'll be the voice of dissent.

33% of the jumps at Budapest were fouls. The simple reality of this change is that it would make one of this sport's most visible and easily understandable events significantly more presentable and marketable to a wider audience.

You can shout and scream that the board is part of the skill of the event. Personally I agree but try telling that to the casual fan that watches a diamond league meet every 2 and a half years, the Olympics, and US trials.

The technology required to implement this wouldn't be available at the lower levels so this would split the sport in two.

Yet somehow the sport eventually moved to FAT timing. It certainly could be done.

I do not think that negating the take off board is going to increase interest. If you are concerned about 1/3 of the jumps were fouls last year, thats fine - just increase the size of the take off board to mitigate this. If you want to increase interest how about decreasing the number of attempts. LJ competitions can be excruciatingly long with delays in seeing your favorite athlete in competition (other field events have the same problem). Ever wonder why coverage of the field events at a meet is rarely matches up with what is happening on the track? I say two attempts in preliminary rounds and one in finals. Or three jumps - no finals. Speed up the events and maybe more people will be interested.

Look to the past to save the sport...BRING BACK THE SOMERSALT/FORWARD ROLL!!!

Yes I am being serious.

Have them jump into a pool of water and the camera sensors can determine where the closest touch point in the water and distance to the board is.

Why does it have to be sand?

The long jump has historic and practical roots associated with the ability to jump over a stream or canyon.

When a person approached the limit of their ability, they would want to take off from a point as close to the edge of the stream/canyon as possible in order to make it to the other side.

A variable take off point removes connections to the historic and practical aspects of long jumping.

If appealing to the average person is the main goal, have a fixed landing area on the far side of an artificial stream or canyon (water pit or recessed area) and progressively move the take off point/board further away from that landing point. This would be conducted similar to high jump and pole vault, where the bar moves increasingly higher and athletes can choose at what height they enter the competition.

The average person would also enjoy it when athletes fail to jump the distance and fall back into the water or canyon, and are then eliminated from the competition. This would eliminate multiple fouls, and make long jumping more similar to running events where athletes only get a very limited opportunity to achieve their best mark (No runner is given up to six chances to run their fastest race.)

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but the proposal is for a takeoff zone from which an athlete can jump. Then with laser precision the takeoff point and landing will be measured thus eliminating a majority of fouls due to a takeoff board. This rule proposal will eliminate one of the greatest skills of the long jump, the approach run! Generating speed and converting it to a precision penultimate step and launch off a predetermined takeoff board is challenging and key to a successful jump. If you take this component away, what's next? Eliminate the confining rings in the shot and discus? Why not measure how high a person jumps in the pole vault and high jump with lasers and award the gold medal to the person that recorded the highest clearance of the day, not the person with the fewest misses. If you haven't deduced my position on this rule proposal, let me clarify it: BURY IT IN THE SAND!