UTEP's Black track athletes boycotted a meet at BYU in 1968 to protest the school's treatment of Black people.

That's all it took for Bob Beamon to leap ... the farthest long jump had been 27 feet, 4¾ inches, by Ter-Ovanesyan and Ralph Boston. Jesse Owens had set a record of 26-8¼ in 1935 that had ...

In terms of sheer sporting achievement, however, few if any feats can compare with the record-shattering leap that won American Bob Beamon the long jump gold medal in Mexico City in 1968.

The evolution of the long jump world record tells a story of athletic achievement ... At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Bob Beamon stunned the sporting world with an almost superhuman jump.