An American long jump legacy started by William DeHart Hubbard lives on
Andscape at the Olympics is an ongoing series exploring the Black athletes and culture around the 2024 Paris Games.
PARIS — The long history of African American artists and musicians in Paris is well-documented. There is an equally rich history of Black athletes. Cyclist Major Taylor was treated like a star during his monthslong stay here in 1901.
But the most dramatic performance took place a century ago at the 1924 Paris Olympics when long jumper William DeHart Hubbard became the first African American to win an individual Olympic gold medal. John Taylor, who won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team at the London Olympics in 1908, was the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal.
Hubbard sailed his ship alone.
In 1924, the Olympics were held at Yves du Manoir stadium in Colombes, France, about 30 minutes from Paris. Hubbard was 20 years old and going into his senior year at the University of Michigan.
In winning gold, Hubbard became part of what would become a dominant long jump presence by the U.S. From 1928 to 1996, the United States won 14 of a possible 16 gold medals in the men’s long jump at the Summer Olympics. Hubbard was the first in a string of great African American long jumpers that would include Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympic Games, and Ralph Boston in 1960 in Rome. In 1968, Bob Beamon set an Olympic record in Mexico City that still stands. Carl Lewis won four consecutive Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 1996.
But not only was Hubbard the first, he and his three Black teammates — Ned Gourdin, Earl Johnson and Charley West — knew they were competing for a larger cause.
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In an interview recorded by the Bentley Digital Media Library at the University of Michigan, Hubbard recalled some of the conversations he and his Black teammates had on the voyage to France. Hubbard’s accomplishment reached a worldwide audience because the 1924 Games were the first to be broadcast on radio.
“We just talked with each other about our responsibilities,” he said. “We felt we had a responsibility, not only for the Black people of America as far as being unofficial representatives, but also for the kids who might come along and may want to compete and track later on.
“We felt the way we conducted ourselves in Paris, we had an influence, we were conscious and aware of that responsibility.”
Fast-forward 100 years to the Paris Olympics, America’s dominance in the long jump has not necessarily waned, but there has been a pause.
On Tuesday, Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece joined Lewis as the only men with long jump gold medals in consecutive Olympics. It was also the second consecutive Olympics that the United States has not medaled in the competition. After Lewis’s fourth consecutive Olympics win in the long jump in 1996, the United States has only won gold in 2004 and 2016.
The NFL was in its infancy in 1924 when Hubbard competed in the Paris Olympics. The NBA was not even a dream. Today, basketball and football offer rich rewards for those who reach the mountaintop, and each sport has an elaborate pipeline that attracts great athletes, many of whom in another athletic life may have been sprinters and long jumpers.
Even in track and field, sprinting has become a more glamorous discipline. In an era of specialization, athletes who have speed and can jump are often forced to choose. Shoe companies are not putting money in field events. The money is being poured into sprinters and distance runners.
“I hate that we feel we have to pick things,” Nic Petersen, the associate head coach in charge of jumps at the University of Florida, said. “I think that you’re capable of doing both, but the reality is that when you’ve got the best 100-meter people on the planet doing nothing but sprinting every day and you’re subtracting your time to go over to play in the sand, it’s not ideal.”
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Like Jesse Owens, who was a world-class sprinter and long jumper, Lewis was a generational talent.
“I do think that we are getting great athletes, and we still have some great long jumpers,” Petersen said, “but I can tell you we’ve had quite a few who have jumped really far and start running faster in the 100 and now they’re running the 100 meters.”
For a new breed, the long jump lacks the pizzazz and glamor of the sprints. Netflix has a series, Sprint. Sprinters such as Canadian Usain Bolt, who dominated for nearly a decade, and U.S. 100-meter gold medalist Noah Lyles have made sprinting a star sport.
“The popularity of the long jump, I think, has decreased,” Petersen said.
Yet, there is a stable of young long jumpers — three of them made the Olympic track and field team — who are poised to become part of the next upward cycle. The next group of long jumpers may be former solid sprinters who can complete a 100-meter sprint in 10 seconds.
“The bottom line is that the faster you run, the further you jump, so we need speed, we need sprinters, we need guys who are running 10.0,” Petersen said.
“Ten point zero doesn’t seem that good — I know that seems crazy — but there could be a bunch of 10.0 guys who could come over and be monsters in the long jump.”
One of Peterson’s athletes, Malcolm Clemons, is one of those sprinters.
Raised in Oakland, California, Clemons was introduced to the track at age 5. He started off as a long jumper and a sprinter. At major competitions he would always be in the top three in the long jump while sprinting competition became tougher.
“Over time, long jumping became something I was better at, compared to the others,” he said. “Long jumping started to be something that stuck with me better.”
Clemons jumped 25 feet for the first time in high school and that’s when his recruitment intensified, though it took another five years for Clemons to begin thinking of himself as an Olympian — it really didn’t happen until last year. “Last year was a big turning point for me,” he said. “That’s when I saw my full potential with long jumping as I got stronger and faster.”
Clemons didn’t quality for the finals here, but his Olympic experience has been the biggest turning point of all. The experience of making an Olympic team and witnessing the Olympic environment has been career-changing for Clemons.
“This meet showed me that this is the level I can stay at for the rest of my career,” he said. “I feel like reaching the highest point there is in the sport already at this age. I feel that I have no choice but to continue to push myself to remain at this level and push for more goals that I want to achieve.”
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Although it’s been 100 years since he made his historic performance here, Hubbard’s spirit lingers.
So many Black athletes of his generation were driven and always carried the burden of having to prove themselves and represent the race. Hubbard enjoyed a terrific career at Michigan, even though he was not named captain of the Michigan track team, despite his Olympic success.
Hubbard was a three-time NCAA champion, winning the long jump in 1923 and 1925 and the 100-yard dash in 1925. He won seven Big Ten Conference championships, including the indoor 50-yard dash in 1923 and 1925, and the outdoor long jump in 1923, 1924, and 1925. Hubbard set the long jump world record of 25 feet 10¾ inches in June 1925 and equaled the world record of 9.6 seconds for the 100-yard dash at Cincinnati a year later. Hubbard also made the 1928 U.S. Olympic team.
Before the Olympic games began, Clemons’ father Weldon told him about Hubbard and sent him an article about Hubbard’s accomplishments. Hubbard possessed timeless qualities that will lead to a resurgence of the long jump that Clemons wants to help lead: drive, determination, perseverance and persistence.
William DeHart Hubbard lives.