Confusion over long jump Olympians

TAJAY GAYLE will be going to the Olympics in Paris, France, as one of three Jamaican long jumpers, but for a few hours on Saturday night, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Carey McLeod had undoubtedly won his first national title, leaping to 8.38 metres at his best. The freshly minted long-jump champion was followed by Wayne Pinnock, whose 8.27 metres suggests that his injury troubles towards the end of the NCAA season were behind him while Gayle was third with 8.18.

But earlier, Gayle was counted as finishing fourth while Pinnock’s mark had him third.

The fly in the ointment came when a fouled jump from SprinTec’s Shawn-D Thompson was measured at 8.30 metres, the Olympic qualification standard.

The foul was calculated as part of Thompson’s series, elevating him to second and on the plane to Paris at the expense of Gayle.

Gayle, who does his jumping on the banner of the MVP Track Club, was not having it and rightfully protested.

Eventually, sanity was retained and the slight scuff on the garments of the new national champion was removed.

According to McLeod, who had fouled his first jump before a modest 7.72 metres, there are still things to tighten up on.

McLeod explained that the 8.38-metre jump should have come on his first attempt and not his third.

Unfortunately for Thompson, his next best leap was only 8.08, leaving him fourth.

As for Pinnock, he also jumped as little as possible, his 8.27 coming on his first jump. He did make a second attempt, his second jump taking him to 8.26 before calling it a night.

As for Gayle, the man who has World Championships gold and bronze under his belt, he is yet to get back to his 8.69 best, using all six attempts before finally landing on 8.18 metres.

Gayle’s series began well enough, leaping out to 7.98 metres before regressing to land on 7.53- and 7.59-metre marks. He would get better in the second half of his jumps, marking the sand at 7.85 then 8.11 before eventually ending on 8.18.