Walter Davis (athletics)
Encyclopedia
Walter L. Davis (born July 2, 1979) is an African American
athlete competing in the triple jump
and occasionally in the long jump
. He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana
Davis won the 2005 World Outdoor & 2006 World Indoor Championships.
However, his greatest claim to fame may have occurred in the 2004 Olympic Trials, where in the later rounds of the final he put in an extraordinary jump, during the landing phase of which he lost control, with his foot hitting the sand a significant distance behind his rump, which is the usual area of the body which lands first in the sand. The jump had to be measured from first body contact with the sand, the foot, which was an official 17.63m. The distance of the jump to where his rump landed in the sand was at least 18m from video analysis.
Video footage of this jump is accessible here :
http://www.polevaultpower.com/media/video/davis57-10-25.avi
It is hoped that biomechanicists or aeronautical engineers or other physicists with access to sophisticated trajectory software, studying this video will eventually provide an accurate estimate of the distance of the rump landing from the take-off board
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
athlete competing in the triple jump
Triple jump
The triple jump is a track and field sport, similar to the long jump, but involving a “hop, bound and jump” routine, whereby the competitor runs down the track and performs a hop, a bound and then a jump into the sand pit.The triple jump has its origins in the Ancient Olympics and has been a...
and occasionally in the long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
. He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
Davis won the 2005 World Outdoor & 2006 World Indoor Championships.
However, his greatest claim to fame may have occurred in the 2004 Olympic Trials, where in the later rounds of the final he put in an extraordinary jump, during the landing phase of which he lost control, with his foot hitting the sand a significant distance behind his rump, which is the usual area of the body which lands first in the sand. The jump had to be measured from first body contact with the sand, the foot, which was an official 17.63m. The distance of the jump to where his rump landed in the sand was at least 18m from video analysis.
Video footage of this jump is accessible here :
http://www.polevaultpower.com/media/video/davis57-10-25.avi
It is hoped that biomechanicists or aeronautical engineers or other physicists with access to sophisticated trajectory software, studying this video will eventually provide an accurate estimate of the distance of the rump landing from the take-off board
Achievements
- 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships2006 IAAF World Indoor ChampionshipsThe 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena....
- gold medal - 2005 World Championships in Athletics2005 World Championships in AthleticsThe 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...
- gold medal - 2004 Summer Olympics2004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
- 11th place - 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships2003 IAAF World Indoor ChampionshipsThe 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK from 14 March to 16 March 2003. It was the first time the Championships had been held in the UK...
- silver medal - 2003 World Championships in Athletics2003 World Championships in AthleticsThe 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...
- seventh place (long jump) - 2001 World Championships in Athletics2001 World Championships in AthleticsThe 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...
- fifth place - 1st IAAF World Athletics Final - second place