Which athlete holds the women's Olympic record in the long jump?

Jackie Joyner-Kersee holds the women’s Olympic record in the long jump.

She set the mark at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, leaping 7.40 metres in the final on September 29. The performance won her the gold medal and improved the Olympic record during a competition featuring three of the greatest long jumpers in history: Joyner-Kersee, Heike Drechsler, and Galina Chistyakova.

The result was an especially significant achievement because Joyner-Kersee was also competing in the heptathlon at those Games. She ultimately won heptathlon gold as well, setting a world record of 7,291 points that stood for many years. Her 7.40-metre Olympic long-jump mark remains distinct from the world record.

A common mix-up is to name Chistyakova, who owns the women’s world record at 7.52 metres, set in 1988. Drechsler also held the world record before Seoul, but Joyner-Kersee’s 7.40 metres is the Olympic record.