Triple jump

The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. The competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit. The triple jump was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympics event since the Games' inception in 1896.

According to IAAF rules, "the hop shall be made so that an athlete lands first on the same foot as that from which he has taken off; in the step he shall land on the other foot, from which, subsequently, the jump is performed."

The current male and female world record holders are Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, with a jump of 18.29 m (60 ft 0 in), and Inessa Kravets of Ukraine, with a jump of 15.50 m (50 ft 10 in). Both records were set during 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg.

History

Historical sources on the ancient Olympic Games occasionally mention jumps of 15 meters or more. This led sports historians to conclude that these must have been a series of jumps, thus providing the basis for the triple jump. However, there is no evidence for the triple jump being included in the ancient Olympic Games, and it is possible that the recorded extraordinary distances are due to artistic license of the authors of victory poems, rather than attempts to report accurate results.

Kola Adedoyin

Kolawole Amos Adedoyin (born 8 April 1991) is a British track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump and has a personal record of 16.61 metres. Kola is the 2012 & 2013 UK Indoor Champion.

Career

Born in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, he moved to England as a 5 year old and attended The Royal Alexandra and Albert School from 2002-2007 and captained their football, basketball and athletics team. After taking bronze at the 2005 English Schools Championships he started training with former Great Britain International John Vernon at Sutton Arena. He made a big breakthrough in 2007 jumping in the under 17 top ten all time list with 15.08, winning medals at all the national u17 championships that year.