Jumping Formed Part of the Pentathlon. It Improved and Advanced Technically As a Result

NAME: ______

Long Jump

Jumping formed part of the pentathlon. It improved and advanced technically as a result of two innovations that helped the jumper. The first was the use of jumping-weights that the athlete held in each hand and which helped him achieve a greater distance, the other is the accompaniment of his efforts to the music of the flute that helped him to perform graceful and rhythmic movements.

The Pit or Skamma

• The competition took place in the stadium. A rectangular pit 50 feet long, was dug out and filled with soft soil, the starting sill used by the runners serving as the take off point.
  
• On one side of the pit there was a marker called the bater, which all the athletes hit before they jumped. This was also the point from which the length of the jump was measured.
  
• A small marker (semeion) was inserted at the point where the athlete’s feet hit the soil after his jump, so that his performance could be distinguished.
  
• The length of the jump was measured by a wooden rod.
  

The legendary Phayllos managed to jump more than the length of the pit and landed outside it

The Jumping weights

The jumping weights or halteres were stone or lead weights that the athletes held in each hand while they were jumping to help balance their body so that they could achieve a better result.

The weight of these halteres varied some found weigh 1.6, 1.4. 2.0.and even 4.6 kilograms.

It seems that jumpers used weights suited to their physical build, the more strongly built the athlete, the heavier the weights he used. Weights were used not just in the jumping events but were also used to exercise their hands, fingers and arms.

There were two types of jumping-weight, the “long” and the “spherical.”

Modern Jumping

The modern jumper sets off at great speed and reaches maximum acceleration at the point where he hurls his body above the pit. But… the ancient method was quite different.

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NAME: ______

Ancient method

• The movement of the athlete was produced both by his run up, which was short but powerful and by the swinging of the weights. As he arrived at the take-off point the athlete swung the weights vigorously backwards and forwards.
• At the point of hurling his body, he stretched his hands with the weights in front of him.
• At the highest point his body was doubled up with feet and hands parallel.
• As soon as he began to fall, the jumper brought his arms forcefully downwards and backwards and used the weights as counter thrusts to push his body forward.
• Just before he landed, he threw the weights behind him to keep the momentum he had gained from sudden downward movement of the arms.
• The weights act as a brake on his body and he lands on the soil with his feet together.

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NAME: ______

Class activity

The Long Jump Ancient versus Modern.

Equipment needed

Dumbells or similar type weights

Divide class into teams.

Each team member to try both methods of jumping.

Keep a record of all the jumps

Which method is best? Ancient or modern?

1. Where did the Long Jump competition take place?
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2. What two innovations helped the jumper?
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3. What was the skamma?
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4. What was the bater?
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5. How was the jump measured?
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6. What were halteres?
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7. What were the two types of jumping weights?
   ______
   
8. Explain the difference between the modern Long Jump and the Ancient Long Jump.
   ______
   ______
   ______
   ______
   ______

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