Long Jump Autobiography

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I am American Edward Barton Hamm and I went ham in the Long Jump at the 1928 summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I won the gold medal broke the Olympic record with a jump of 25 feet and 4 and three quarters inches. Being part of the Olympics was full of wonderful experiences, starting with when I broke the world record at the U. S. Olympic trials. Four years ago I had went the trials in Boston, but I failed to qualify. Fortunately I went this time and was able to participate in the first parade of nations at the opening ceremony in Amsterdam, Netherlands. This parade started with the athletes from Greece, the originators of the ancient Olympic Games, then went alphabetically through every other nation, ending with the host nation which was …show more content…

On one of my early jumps I had flown a distance over 27 feet, but unfortunately the judge ruled that my foot had crossed the board. After winning the gold medal by half a foot with an olympic record, I stood atop the podium, and it was one of the best moments of my life. I was able to represent my country and show off my skills on an international stage. Although I was both a world record holder and a gold medalist, my world record fell only nine days after a won gold. This was the pinnacle as my career as my jumper, as I got second place in 1930 at the NCAA finals to future Olympic gold medalist Edward Gordon. Although I liked being a jumper, it was impossible to make a living as an ametur athlete, so I decided to drop out of Georgia Tech and pursue a career in business, which ultimately led me to become a manager at Coca-Cola. The games also only took place over 16 days, rather than several months as previous games had done. In addition to these changes, the German team was finally able to compete in the games for the first time since 1912 due to their participation in the first world

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