Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's triple jump

The Men's triple jump competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico took place on October 16–17. With the best athletes jumping at high altitude in the Olympics, the world record was set multiple times. Prior to the event, Józef Szmidt had held the world record for eight years and also held the Olympic record since the previous Olympics.

Contents

• Competition format
• Records
• Qualifying round
• References

The world and Olympic record were smashed in the qualifying round by Giuseppe Gentile, with a 17.10 on his second attempt (after fouling the first). It would prove to be his best jump in the competition.

The following day in the final, Gentile improved upon his record in the first round, jumping 17.22. In the third round, Viktor Saneyev improved upon the record by one centimeter. In the fifth round Nelson Prudêncio took the lead and the record. On his last attempt, Saneyev hit the winner and new record of 17.39 m (57 ft 0 ¹⁄₂ in).

The record lasted for three years until it was improved upon by Pedro Pérez, also set at high altitude. One year later, Saneyev brought the record down to sea level with a 17.44 that lasted 3 years. In 1975 in this same stadium, João Carlos de Oliveira made a .45 m (1 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in) "beamonesque" improvement to the record that held for almost 10 years. The record was brought down to sea level by Willie Banks in 1985.

During the competition, five men exceeded the previous world record though Art Walker and Nikolay Dudkin's jumps were wind aided. Phil May and Szmidt jumped further than his Olympic record in sixth and seventh place respectively.