Goodwin comes up short in long jump

LONDON (KXAN) - Marquis Goodwin fell to the ground, covering his head with his hands. This was not how he imagined his pursuit for a gold medal would end.

Goodwin tied for the longest jump in Friday's preliminary round but failed to stay at the top in Saturday's final.

Needing to place in the top eight after the first round of three jumps to continue in the competition, Goodwin came up short. The Longhorn senior finished tenth, failing to medal in his first Olympics.

Goodwin’s second jump was his best but the leap of 25 feet, 7.25 came up six inches too short to place in the top eight. His third and ultimately final jump was 25 feet, 5.5 inches.

The field of twelve is trimmed to eight after three jumps, with the remaining contestants jumping three more times.

“Very disappointed,” Goodwin said moments after jumping, “I let everybody down. ”

Goodwin’s personal best jump of 27 feet, 4.25 inches in the US Olympic trials would have won the gold medal in London.

Asked how he would move on, a clearly disappointed Goodwin looked ahead to his return to Texas.

“I got football coming up so I’ll get ready for that. That’s all I can do. Just move forward,” he said.

In front of a home crowd, Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford captured the gold medal. Australia’s Mitchell Watt won silver while American Will Claye won bronze.