In his autobiography, 'The Man Who Could Fly', Bob Beamon paints a bleak picture of his childhood. His elder brother Andrew was brain-damaged at birth by the kicking his mother received from his father when she was pregnant and Bob was repeatedly beaten himself, following the death of his mother, before his first birthday. Later he became a member of a street gang and witnessed a friend being stabbed to death. He took up athletics while at reform school and entered the Junior Olympics in New York in 1962 when he was 15. He leapt 7.34 metres (24 feet 1 inch) to win the long jump. "That gold medal was as important to me as the one in Mexico City," he wrote. "It proved to me that I might come through with something worthwhile in my life." Between 1935 and 1968, the world long jump record increased exactly 22cm (eight and one-half inches). Coming into the 1968 Olympics, the world record was 8.39m - 27 feet, 4¾ inches - shared by American Ralph Boston and Soviet Igor Ter-Ovanesyan. In six seconds, that all changed. Bob Beamon, a 22-year-old New York native, had barely qualified for the Olympic long jump finals after fouling in two of his qualifying runs. The following day, on the 18th October 1968, in the finals, Beamon took off down the runway in the thin air of Mexico City. After exactly 19 loping strides, he hit the board perfectly, stretched out with his legs and flew through the air like no one ever had, hitting the sand in the pit below—8.90m - 29 feet, 2½ inches from take-off. He had leapt out of the pit, and had done something special. Not only was he the first long jumper in history to reach 28 feet. He also became the first to reach 29 feet. He shattered the world record by an unbelievable 21¾ inches. The record lasted almost 23 years until 1991 when American Mike Powell jumped 8.95m - 29 feet 4½ inches - at the World Championships in Tokyo. Advice from Bob Beamon : "Staying focused and motivated are the keys to any situation." As we move into this Olympic Year 2012 - a Leap Year - I am minded to read again from the New Testament - Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 : 'Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.' Staying focussed in faith is key to approaching life in 2012. Living in faith pleases God.
