<P> Training styles, duration, and intensity vary immensely from athlete to athlete and are based on the experience and strength of the athlete as well as on their coaching style . </P> <P> Track and field events have been selected as a main motif in numerous collectors' coins . One of the recent samples is the € 10 Greek Long Jump commemorative coin, minted in 2003 to commemorate the 2004 Summer Olympics . The obverse of the coin portrays a modern athlete at the moment he is touching the ground, while the ancient athlete in the background is shown while starting off his jump, as he is seen on a black - figure vase of the 5th century BC . </P> <P> The long jump world record has been held by just four individuals for the majority of its existence . The first record ratified by the IAAF in 1901, by Peter O'Connor stood just short of 20 years . After it was broken in 1921, the record changed hands six times until Jesse Owens set the record at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) that was not broken for 25 years and 2 months, until 1960 by Ralph Boston . Boston improved upon it and exchanged records with Igor Ter - Ovanesyan seven times over the next seven years . At the 1968 Summer Olympics Bob Beamon jumped 8.90 m (29 ft 2 ⁄ in) at an altitude of 7,349 feet (2,240 m), a jump not exceeded for 23 years, and which remains the second longest legal jump of all time . On 30 August 1991 Mike Powell of the United States set the current men's world record at the World Championships in Tokyo . It was in a well - known show down against Carl Lewis, who also beat Beamon's record that day but with an aiding wind (thus not legal for record purposes). Powell's record 8.95 m (29 ft 4 ⁄ in) has now stood for more than 27 years . </P> <P> Some jumps over 8.95 m (29 ft 4 ⁄ in) have been officially recorded . 8.99 m (29 ft 5 ⁄ in) was recorded by Mike Powell himself (wind - aided + 4.4) set at high altitude in Sestriere, Italy in 1992 . A potential world record of 8.96 m (29 ft 4 ⁄ in) was recorded by Iván Pedroso, with a "legal" wind reading also at Sestriere, but the jump was not validated because videotape revealed someone was standing in front of the wind gauge, invalidating the reading (and costing Pedroso a Ferrari valued at $130,000--the prize for breaking the record at that meet). Lewis himself jumped 8.91 m moments before Powell's record - breaking jump with the wind exceeding the maximum allowed . This jump remains the longest ever not to win an Olympic or World Championship gold medal, or any competition in general . </P>

Who holds the record for the longest long jump