“Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou leaped 8.48 meters to become only the second man after Carl Lewis to successfully defend the men’s Olympic long jump title on Tuesday, delivering his country’s first gold of the Paris Games.”
The above is copied from a report by Reuters which highlights Tentoglou’s achievement and who is mentioned in the same breath as Lewis, the American legend who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold.
“Poker-faced world champion Tentoglou clinched the title with his second attempt, cracking a smile only once he was able to embrace his team in the stands before wrapping himself in the Greece flag,” the Reuters report continues.
Tentoglou joined long jump legend Lewis
Tentoglou joined long jump royalty as only American Lewis, who won the title four times from 1984-1996, had retained the title. “This is for my country. Greece is the country that invented the Olympics, so I am happy to do it for them,” he told reporters.
“The 26-year-old became the first athlete to repeat as Olympic long jump champion in the 21st century, doing so with exceptional speed, power and technique,” Olympics.com says.
In his first attempt in the final, he jumped only 8.27 meters, but he cleared 8.48 meters on the second try, jumping farther than all other contenders. His third jump was 8.25 meters while the fourth was 8.36 meters.
It was his second effort that made him an Olympic champion for the second time, leaving behind Jamaican Wayne Pinnock and Italian Mattia Furlani in second and third place, respectively.
“It’s a great achievement,” said Tentoglou. “I am very happy, but very tired. My distance was not bad, not good.” Before the final, he stated that 8.75m was his “dream distance”.
“I have a special personal reason that I wanted to jump 8.75m,” he added. “Today it was impossible to jump so far. It was not the best conditions; the wind was difficult at times.
“I didn’t think my jump was going to be enough because the other guys are very talented and capable. I was pushing throughout to do more.”
Tentoglou’s rise to the top
Until the age of 15, the Olympic medalist had no experience in track and field whatsoever. However, he won the gold medal for Greece in the long jump at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic) and the gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
After winning the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Tentoglou became the World Indoor champion, jumping the current Greek indoor record of 8.55 meters. This places him 6th on the respective world all-time list.
He was also the silver medal winner at the outdoor World Championships. He is a six-time European champion, winning a record three consecutive outdoor titles in 2018, 2022, and 2024 and a record three successive men’s indoor titles between 2019 and 2023.
The following year, he was the U20 champion, and in 2019, he was European U23 champion. In 2022, Tentoglou was the 2022 Diamond League long jump champion. In Greece, he is the indoor record holder and has won 10 national long jump titles.