It was the fifth day of the Olympic track and field competitions. The track and field events being held were the women's pole vaulting qualification round and the first round of the women's 5000 meters. The next event was the final in the men's triple jump.
The US team was favored to win the gold medal in men's triple jump and they had two athletes participating.
Europeans were also quite good at the men's triple jump. In the past three decades, Europeans had gotten excellent results in this event. However, several of Europe's traditional triple jump powers failed to perform well in this Olympics and no European teams made the final.
On the contrary, players from Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Guyana and other countries in the Central and South America advanced. On top of that, three athletes from the Chinese team advanced to the final. The Chinese team therefore had one more athlete than the American team.
