Every Welsh sports fan knows that Lynn Davies won an Olympic gold medal in 1964. But fewer realise that his best long jump – 8.23m – is still a Welsh record that has now stood for an astonishing half a century. Clive Williams looks at the man and the measurements.

Fifty years ago this week, Lynn Davies – still Wales’ only individual Olympic gold medallist in the traditional track and field events – long jumped over the magical 27 foot barrier (8.23m) in Switzerland and set a British record that was to stand for a remarkable third of a century.

The jump remains the Welsh record to this day and is likely to stand for many a year as current Welsh long jumping standards are in the doldrums, with only two Welshmen over 23 feet (7m) so far this year, let alone 27 feet. Such is the brilliance of Lynn Davies, arguably Wales’ finest ever sportsman.

But the conditions in Berne on that historic day were in stark contrast to those the former UK Athletics president encountered when he won his Olympic title in rain swept Tokyo in 1964.

Said Lynn when I caught up with him last week: “The temperature in Berne was a sweltering 35 degrees. I had to pour a bottle of water over my head to cool down, and it seemed to work”.

“It was the last jump of the competition, and I knew that it was a good jump as soon as I came out of the pit. I was euphoric as the jump came after injuries to both ankles and a niggling hamstring problem”.

He continued: “I had no idea that the record would stand for 33 years”.

He is still to this day one of only four British athletes to have jumped over the 27 foot barrier.

Lynn’s UK record was eventually beaten by three-time Olympian Chris Tomlinson when he added a mere 4 cms to Lynn’s leap in the Florida sunshine in 2002. The 2012 Olympic champion, Greg Rutherford, has since taken the record to 8.50m today.

Nathan Morgan is the only other UK athlete to have bettered the 27 foot barrier with his 27’ 1¼ (8.26m) leap in 2003.

Although Lynn’s 8.23m stood as the British record for 33 years, he had been the British record holder since 1962 when he jumped 7.72m as a 20 year-old college student at the Perth Commonwealth Games. Agonisingly, he finished just outside the medals with the only legal jump amongst the first five athletes.

Said Lynn: “a tiny puff of wind would have given me the 2 cms I needed to take the silver medal, although I was way off Ghanaian Mike Ahey’s winning jump of 8.05m which was a Games record”.

Lynn made amends by winning Commonwealth gold in both Jamaica (1966) and Edinburgh (1970). He also took the European title in Budapest in 1966 to become the first British athlete to hold gold medals at the three major athletics gatherings at the same time. There were no world championships in those days. Lynn subsequently gained revenge over Ahey two years later in Tokyo with the Ghanaian finishing back in seventh place.

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Lynn’s performance in Berne on June 30th 1968 was part of the UK v Switzerland match and the Nantymoel-born superstar was only the fourth athlete then to better the magical 27 foot barrier.

At the time, only the Olympic champion Ralph Boston of the USA – the man he beat to win gold in Tokyo – and the reigning world record holder Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the then USSR had jumped further. American Bob Beamon’s best at that time was a windy 8.39m and of course he went on to win the Olympic gold medal in the verified Mexico atmosphere to set a world record of 8.90m which was to stand until Mike Powell jumped 8.95m 23 years later.

Lynn said after the event: “I lost all interest in the competition following Beamon’s phenomenal jump which not only eclipsed the 28 foot barrier but the 29 foot in one go”.

Forever the realist, Lynn knew that whilst a 28 foot leap may have been possible, a 29 foot jump was out of the question.

Country v country international matches were a key feature of the UK athletics season in those days. There were no Diamond Leagues and suchlike at the time and Britain’s best athletes fought tooth and nail to get selection for British teams.

In that Switzerland match there were three other Welsh athletes competing – Howard Davies, the Newport sprinter, West Walian 400m star Gwynne Griffiths and Aberdare’s Ron Jones.

Former Cardiff City Managing Director Ron was in outstanding form as he took the 100m in 10.3 secs to equal Rhymney-born Berwyn Jones’ Welsh record.

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But it was not only as a long jumper he excelled. His first Welsh title came as a triple jumper in 1961 when as a 19 year-old he was still at Ogmore County Grammar School.

He gave clear indications of his future jumping potential taking the event in 14.61m – then the fourth best on record by a Welshman – but ironically was beaten in the long jump by Welsh record holder Bryan Woolley.

It was Wooley’s Welsh record of 7.36m that Lynn eventually beat by just 3 cms in Barry the following year. And he’s bettered the record on no less than twelve occasions to hold the record for a remarkable 56 years.

And it’s likely to stand for another 56 years judging by the poor men’s long jumping standards we are currently seeing in Wales.

As well as his jumping exploits, Lynn was an outstanding sprinter being amongst Britain’s best. He was a regular member of Britain’s sprint relay team and he just missed a Commonwealth bronze medal for Wales by a mere 2 tenths of a second at the 1966 Jamaica Games. Earlier, he had triumphed in the long jump. His best 100m time of 10.51 secs set in Mexico in 1967 would still have ranked him as the third fastest Welshman last year despite the much more favourable running surfaces of today.

Is that performance a sign of Lynn’s brilliance or an indication of current Welsh sprinting standards? It’s a combination of both I guess.

Only three other Welsh athletes can be spoken of in the same breath as the Nantymoel superstar – Colin Jackson, Steve Jones and Dai Greene with Jackson and Jones setting world records in standard Olympic events.

Jackson’s word record for the 110m hurdles of 12.91sec stood for eleven years and then it was only equalled by China’s Liu Xiang who made the record his own two years later.

It’s almost forgotten that Cardiff-born Colin is still the world record holder for the indoor 60m hurdles which he set with a time of 6.30 secs in 1994.

Newport Harrier Jones set the world’s best for the marathon in 1985 (2 hrs 07 mins 13 secs) and this remained the UK record for almost 33 years  until beaten by a certain Mo Farah in London earlier this year. Both marks are still Welsh records and as with Lynn’s long jump will remain Welsh records for many a day.

Swansea’s 2011 World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene has had a difficult couple of years after being plagued by injury but is still hopeful of recapturing some of the form that saw him win European and Commonwealth gold medals in 2010.

His welsh record of 47.68 secs is the second fastest time recorded by a British athlete behind Kriss Akabussi.

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In a glittering career, Lynn now in his 76^th year and looking almost as fit as he was in his competitive days, won the prestigious BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year competition twice and after receiving an MBE in 1967 was awarded a CBE in 2006.

Surely, a knighthood is around the corner.

British / Welsh Records
26.11/1962 Commonwealth Games, Perth  7.72m
16.05.1964  British Games, London  8.00m
25.07.1964  Welsh Games, Cardiff  8.02m
18.10.1964  Olympic Games, Tokyo 8.07m
06.04.1966  Pretoria 8.13m
09.10.1966  Bloemfontein 8.18m
30.06.1968  Berne 8.23m