Olympic champion in Rome 1960 and multiple world record-breaker from the United States was 83 years old

Tributes have poured in for Ralph Boston, the 1960 Olympic long jump gold medallist and six-time world record-holder, who died on Sunday (April 30) aged 83 following a stroke.

Carl Lewis, four-time Olympic long jump champion, said: “I’m devastated about Ralph Boston’s passing. As a child I idolised him and he was a major influence in my life. I’ll miss his voice and support. He changed the game as an athlete, advocate and mentor. Jumpers, Know his name!!! Rest with the greats.”

USA Track & Field, meanwhile, said: “Our sport has lost a legend with the passing of Ralph Boston. The greatest long jumper of his time, Boston broke the world record six times and was a member of the inaugural National Track & Field Hall of Fame. His legacy and contributions will live on for generations to come.”

Jesse Owens held the long jump world record from 1935 to 1960 with 8.13m, but Boston was the man to break Owens’ brilliant mark with 8.21m. Competing in Walnut, California, on August 12 in 1960, Boston leapt 8.07m in the third round before soaring out to 8.21m in the fifth.

The imperial measurements which dominated at the time saw the mark registered at 26ft 11¼in and Boston said: “I thought I’d gone over 26ft but I didn’t think it was that far!”

Just three weeks later in Rome, the 21-year-old Boston took to the runway and won Olympic gold with 8.12m – a distance that broke Owens’ long-standing Olympic record from the 1936 Berlin Games.

It was a close competition, though, as Boston’s American team-mate Bo Roberson fell just one centimetre short with his final jump while Armenian Igor Ter-Ovanesyan jumped a European record of 8.04m for bronze.

The last of 10 children and the son of a farmer and handyman, Boston grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, and as a teenager he borrowed his father’s tools to build a track on a nearby lot that included a high jump set made from bamboo and a sawdust landing pit.

Laurel, however, was a focal point of Ku Klux Klan violence and after his victory in Rome he returned to his home town but was only able to use segregated restaurants and restrooms. “I was a citizen of the world,” he said, “but not a citizen of Mississippi.”

Following his Olympic triumph Boston broke the world record a further five times. In 1961 he jumped 8.24m at the California Relays in Modesto in May – in doing so becoming the first man to jump 27ft – and in July he leapt 8.28m at a Soviet Union vs United States match in Moscow.

Ter-Ovanesyan took the record back from Boston in 1962 with 8.31m but the American regained the mantle of world record-holder in 1964 by firstly jumping 8.31m in Kingston, Jamaica, then 8.34m at the US Olympic trials in Los Angeles. At those trials he also jumped 8.49m in the first round but it was ruled out due to a 2.6m/sec tailwind.

Finally he took the world record to 8.35m in Modesto in 1965 before Ter-Ovanesyan equalled his mark in 1967 and then Bob Beamon took long jumping to a new level with an altitude-assisted 8.90m at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

Boston completed a full set of Olympic medals as he won silver in Tokyo in 1964 and bronze in Mexico in 1968.

In 1964 he jumped 8.03m behind Lynn Davies’ 8.07m as the PE teacher from Wales struck gold for Britain in wet and windy conditions. Boston’s biggest jump came in the last round, too, with Davies covering his face with his hands and peeping through his fingers as the American fell just 4cm short.

Boston got his revenge one year later on Davies’ home patch in Cardiff, though. The head-to-head was the highlight of the Welsh Games with organisers flying Boston over from the United States for the clash.

Cardiff City Council dug a special long jump pit in front of the main grandstand to give the event maximum exposure and, with Ron Pickering on the commentary in the stadium, Boston won with a Welsh all-comers’ record of 8.18m

“He slaughtered me in front of 10,000 Welshmen,” Davies later said. “Everybody was shouting for me as I jumped. But I was absolutely humiliated.”

In 1968 Boston jumped 8.16m for bronze at the Mexico Games, some distance behind Beamon’s winning leap, but Boston could claim some credit for his team-mate’s victory as he had been informally coaching Beamon during the run-up to the Games and, among other things, had advised him during a nervous qualifying round to relax and take off from a mark a few inches before the take-off board.

“It was easy to end my career,” Boston said. “I’d won a gold, silver and a bronze in that order. There’s nothing for fourth place, so I just said, ‘okay, that’s enough.’”