World Athletics long jump plans will not solve the problem. Here is a better idea | Sean Ingle

A take-off zone, called an 'April Fool's joke' by Carl Lewis, is a bad idea. But we need more jeopardy. Why not make it a knockout? Even at 55 years' distance, Bob Beamon's gravity-defying leap at the 1968 Olympics takes the breath away. I watched it again after World Athletics floated plans to scrap the long jump board in favour of a large "take-off zone" to eliminate fouls, and it remains six seconds of sporting perfection. Those 19 rhythmic strides down the runway, the board hit with millimetric precision. Then Beamon's long legs launching and fluttering high through the Mexico air, like a man pedalling furiously on an imaginary recumbent...