TL;DR
The late 1960s witnessed a fierce commercial rivalry between cousins Horst and Armin Dassler, founders of Adidas and Puma respectively, as they battled to secure the best athletes for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Despite Olympic rules prohibiting payments to athletes, the competition was ruthless, featuring under-the-table rewards and aggressive tactics including customs sabotage and arrests of sales representatives.
In this heated context, Puma believed they had secured several top athletes, including long jump favorite Bob Beamon. On October 17, 1968, Beamon achieved a legendary jump that stunned the world: 8.90 meters, shattering the world record by 55 cm—a feat so incredible it was dubbed the "jump into the future." The surprise? Despite his agreement with Puma, Beamon was wearing a pair of Adidas Weltrekord spikes. While the exact reasons remain unclear, this moment forever enshrined the Adidas Weltrekord in history as the shoe that witnessed one of sport's most iconic moments.
When Shoes Become Legend
Behind great performances and the stories of ordinary people who become legends, there are often particular details that many of us sports fans overlook—like the events that transform a simple spiked shoe into a symbol of a historical moment, a great feat, and a legendary athlete.
The Sporting "Arms Race" and the Dassler Feud
By the end of the 1960s, a real sporting "arms race" had begun—a battle where the prize was signing the most prestigious athletes on the international stage. But during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, no commercial feud burned hotter than that between cousins Horst and Armin Dassler: Adidas versus Puma.
Representing their fathers' interests on Mexican soil, both cousins shared a single goal: get as many athletes as possible to wear their shoes. Although Olympic rules forbade athletes from receiving payment or monetary rewards, the rivalry between Adidas and Puma proved lucrative for athletes determined to monetize their performances—with many financial rewards flowing under the table.
The Adidas and Puma Machinations in Mexico City
Armin's secret weapon in Mexico City was Artur Simburg, Puma's representative, who had already endured dirty tricks from Adidas competitors—like discovering that booked hotels and rental cars had been mysteriously canceled. These were cheap shots that Horst frequently enjoyed throwing at Armin.
Simburg quickly made his mark in the United States, securing many top Olympic contenders for Puma: Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Lee Evans. These three great athletes were first supplied with the legendary (and unfortunately lost to history) Spike Brush—68-spike spikes that were almost immediately banned—and later with Puma Sacramento shoes.
However, despite having a large roster of "sponsored" athletes ready to compete, Puma discovered shortly before the Games that Adidas had obtained exclusive rights to sell shoes in the Olympic Village. This meant Puma would have to pay an import tariff of $10 per pair to clear customs.
In an attempt to avoid the tariff, Armin ensured that Puma shipments were stamped with "AD" to make them look like Adidas products. But Horst tipped off customs officials to this deception and, adding insult to injury, encouraged Mexican agents to search Armin's hotel room for false customs documents. Fortunately for Armin, 50 pairs of shoes made it across the border—but this meant Puma shoes would be in the distinct minority.
Horst didn't stop at customs manipulation. His next move involved two undercover policemen who arrested Artur Simburg in the Olympic Village, taking him to jail without permission to make phone calls. It took intervention from the US State Department and five days to get Simburg released. But by then, the die had been cast for the event we're about to describe.
During the Games, there were no limits to the moves made by both cousins to give their respective brands a moment of glory. Some competitors reported receiving an extra $10,000 for switching from one brand to another—all for that moment of victory crowned with either a leaping Puma or three diagonal stripes.
Bob Beamon: The Athlete and the Man
One of the athletes Puma approached in 1968 was Bob Beamon. Born in August 1946 in Queens, New York, he endured an extremely difficult childhood. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1947, before his first birthday, and he never knew his father. Raised first by his stepfather and later by his maternal grandmother, he spent his childhood in New York's Jamaica neighborhood—an area plagued by gangs, drugs, and violence.
After hitting a teacher at school, Beamon was sent first to a juvenile correction center and then to reform school. It was there that young Bob discovered sport and found a way to learn the discipline he so desperately lacked.
By 1964, he was already one of the top high school jumpers, setting a national triple jump record the following year. After graduation, Beamon initially joined North Carolina A&T University, but after winning a scholarship, he transferred to the University of Texas at El Paso—a university that boasted one of the strongest track programs in the entire USA.
However, Beamon was prematurely suspended after refusing to compete against Brigham Young University, claiming it was a racist institution. Without a coach and with the 1968 Mexico City Olympics approaching, Bob turned to his friend Ralph Boston, the long jump world record holder, to help him train.
Jump Into the Future
Despite all the adversity, Beamon arrived in the Mexican capital as one of the favorites, having won 20 out of 21 competitions that year.
This is where our story intersects with the Dassler conflict: recognizing the American jumper's potential, Artur Simburg had persuaded him to wear Puma before the Olympics. Beamon had always worn Adidas, but he accepted the pair of white Pumas that Simburg gave him and headed for Mexico City.
On the morning of October 17, Beamon began his Olympic journey by attempting to qualify for the final. After the anxiety of two failed attempts, he landed at 8.18m to secure his spot.
On the day of the final, all the big favorites were competing, including defending Olympic champion Lynn Davies of Britain and world record holder Ralph Boston. Preparing for his first attempt, Bob Beamon stood at the end of the runway, concentrating. His first steps were long and powerful, his lengthy strides carrying the American jumper forward. As he approached the takeoff board, he gathered himself and launched off his right foot, soaring skyward.
When gravity finally began to reclaim the athlete's body, Beamon thrust his legs forward and arms backward before landing in the sand. It was a jump of enormous proportions, shocking not only the officials and other competitors, but also the many spectators who realized they had witnessed something truly special.
The judges quickly realized that the jump had gone beyond the electronic measuring device, so they had to resort to a simple tape measure to determine the result. Beamon couldn't understand why it was taking so long. He knew he had made a good jump, but not that he was so far beyond the world record.
After a twenty-minute wait, three numbers appeared on the scoreboard: 8.90m. Beamon hadn't just broken the world record—he had obliterated it, beating the previous mark by an incredible 55 cm. Realizing the magnitude of what he had accomplished, Beamon suffered a brief collapse from the overwhelming emotion.
Adidas Weltrekord: The Hidden Protagonist
Another person who could have collapsed at that moment was Armin Dassler. The shoes Beamon wore were white, but they weren't the ones Simburg had given him—they were a pair of Adidas Weltrekord (German for "world record"), a model that, with remarkable foresight, anticipated in design and materials what synthetic track spikes would become.
In all the color photos and videos, you can perfectly recognize those beautiful white shoes trimmed with the iconic red "three stripes" as they cut through the sky, landing on the moon before the Apollo mission ever did.
The reason Beamon wasn't wearing Pumas was long debated, but Adidas simply stated that Beamon preferred their products. Whatever the true reason, the Adidas Weltrekord became the shoe the entire world saw in what was renamed the "jump into the future"—forever cementing its place in sports history.
Bibliographic source: "The Golden Kicks: The Shoes That Changed Sport"
About the Author
Alessandro Bacci
An accomplished sprint and hurdles coach with extensive experience across Italy’s top athletic institutions. He currently serves as sprint coach for the Italian Navy Academy and track & field practice teacher at the University of Pisa. Alessandro also coaches at Atletica Livorno 1950 and collaborates with the Regional Technical Sector of Tuscany, contributing to the development of elite athletes across the region.
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