World Record: 7.52m Galina Chistyakova, Soviet Union - Leningrad, Soviet Union 11 June 1988
Olympic Record: 7.40m Jackie Joyner- Kersee, United States - Seoul, South Korea 29 September 1988
Favourite Joyner-Kersee was suffering from a hamstring injury, and
Drechsler had a thigh injury which prevented her from defending her
title. World Champion May led the qualifying with 6.85, from Ajunwa
(6.81). The Nigerian, who had just missed making the 100m final, used
her speed effectively in the first round of the final, stretching out to
7.12. Ajunwa had been suspended for four years in 1992 for a doping
violation and was banned from the Nigerian soccer team as well as
international athletics. May reached a personal best 7.02 in the second
round, but could get no closer. She was reported to say after the com-
petition that drug bans should last forever. Just that fate befell Ajunwa
from June 2002, when she failed another doping test.
Drugs did directly affect the event, if not the medals, as Iva
Prandzheva (BUL) – finishing seventh with 6.82 – was subsequently
disqualified for failing a doping test. The bronze medal was a contest
between Xánthou and Shekhovtsova, both of whom jumped 6.97, until
the final round, when Joyner-Kersee, slowed by injury, managed a
jump of 7.00 – about 7.10 from toe to heel – to take third place and the
last of her six Olympic medals.
Nigeria
Italy
United States
Greece
Ukraine
Poland
Australia
Hungary
New Zealand
Netherlands
Bulgaria
Cuba
Kazakhstan
Russia
Slovenia
Estonia
Latvia
Argentina
Belarus
Bangladesh
Seychelles
Romania
Denmark
LCA
Jamaica
US Virgin Islands
Bahamas
Siera Leone
Slovakia
Great Britain
Tonga
Philippines
Pakistan
Canada
Finland
Austria
