What if the Impala was in the Olympics?

The London Olympics were a huge success. I spent hours perched in front of the television watching the best athletes in the world compete for the ultimate honour: the title and bragging rights of being able to say “ I AM THE BEST IN THE WORLD”. Years of training, practice and sacrifice, sweating blood and tears. All this boils down to a few seconds of potential glory. Make or break! The ultimate showcase of what the human body can do.

One of my favourite events to watch is the men’s long jump. To see incredible athletes sprint a short distance and then leap as far as is possible into a sandpit. Every ounce of style, power, effort and skill is required to try out jump each competitor. Millimeters separate medal contenders. Every single jump requires each man giving his everything.

The theory behind the long jump – picture courtesy of Google Images

Michael Powell – possibly the best long jumper to have ever lived. The USA athlete smashed the world record in the 1991 World Championships in Athletics (Tokyo), he broke Bob Beamon’s almost 23-year-old long jump world record by 5 cm (2 inches), leaping 8.95 m (29 ft 4½ in). The world record still stands, making Powell the fourth person since 1900 to hold the record for over 20 years.

I’m fascinated by the world records. To see how improvement in diet, technology, training and other factors has seen a gradual increase over the years in what is possible.

Men’s World Record Progression (distances in meters)

7.61 Peter O’Connor (GBR) 1901
7.69 Edwin Gourdin (USA) 1923
7.76 Robert LeGendre (USA) 1924
7.89 William DeHart Hubbard (USA) 1925
7.90 Edward Hamm (USA) 1928
7.93 Sylvio Cator (HAI) 1928
7.98 Chuhei Nambu (JPN) 1931
8.13 Jesse Owens (USA) 1935
8.21 Ralph Boston (USA) 1960
8.24 Ralph Boston (USA) 1961
8.28 Ralph Boston (USA) 1961
8.31 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 1962
8.31 Ralph Boston (USA) 1964
8.34 Ralph Boston (USA) 1964
8.35 Ralph Boston (USA) 1965
8.35 Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) 1967
8.90 Bob Beamon (USA) 1968
8.95 (29′ 4.4″) Mike Powell (USA) Tokyo 1991

Jesse Owens participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame as the most successful athlete of the games. In the year prior to the Olympics Jesse Owens recorded a jump of 8, 13 meters

Yesterday I watched a herd of impala playing in the short winters grass. With little effort, these beautiful animals leapt in far excess of what the human body is capable of doing. With each jump I saw a world record shattered. And I couldn’t help but think how they were not even really trying. I was witnessing poetry in motion. Impalas are fleet footed runners who are able to leap distances of up to 12 meters. They use this technique to escape predators and sometimes, apparently, simply to amuse themselves. The impala can also clear bushes and other obstacles by soaring some 3 meters (10 feet) in the air. They can do this from an early age, with a diet of grass and leaves, with no training, no technological assistance or performance enhancing drugs. They just jump. They are brilliant.

Female Impala getting ready to jump – Adam Bannister

Next comes an almost vertical jump. Reaching heights of up to 3 meters this allows them to clear obstacles in the process of trying to escape predators – Adam Bannister

Yes I am aware I chopped the ear off. An otherwise lovely picture to show the full extent and body positioning of the Impala’s jump – Adam Bannister

Unlike Long Jumpers who often land splayed out in the soft sand; Impalas land and are ready to make another quick move – Adam Bannister

As one looks at the nationalities of the world record holders listed above, you will see that it is certainly an American dominated event. Africa has never produced any world record jumpers. In Beijing 2008 our South African athlete Khotso Mokoena won an Olympic Silver medal with a jump of 8,24 meters!

Khotso Mokoena put SA on the Beijing Olympics medals table with a silver medal in the long jump

In my opinion, Africa’s only chance for a gold at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics is if they allow one of Londolozi’s Impalas to take part, unless of course Usain Bolt follows through with his comments about competing in the long jump instead of the sprints…if that’s the case then even our finest male Impala may have to settle for silver.

The legend himself – Usain Bolt. Rumours are that he is still debating between whether he wants to pursue a career in sprinting, long jump, cricket or playing soccer for Manchester United

This time it is a male that jumps after drinking at Taylor’s Dam. Unlike humans, where it is only a small handful of people who can jump any distance at all, every individual Impala is graced with extraordinary talent – Adam Bannister