The jump consists of covering the greatest distance possible making an energetic jump and the end of a high speed sprint. As long ago as 2000 B.C., the event was part of some Celtic games; the first record, 6.92 meters was establish by Chionis, a Spartan athlete, at the Olympics in 656 B.C.

The long jump was included in the first track and field competitions at Exeter College at Oxford in 1850 and has been an Olympic event since the first modern Games, in Athens in 1896. The women's long jump has been part of the Olympics since the 1948 Games in London.