How do you win the long jump?

• The run: along a runway at least 40 m long.
• The take-off: from a white board sunk into the runway. The edge of the board nearer the sand is the take-off line.
• The foul: breaking the plane of the take-off line with the front of the take-off foot.
• The landing: in a pit of soft damp sand, level with the board.
• The measurement: from the nearest break in the sand made by any part of the body back to the take-off line.
• Trials: with more than eight athletes, each has three trials and the eight with the best valid jumps have three more.
• The result: each athlete is credited with the best of all their trials.
• Level on distance: the second-best jump decides, then the third-best.
• The clock: one minute for each trial.
• Wind: measured for every jump. It matters for records and not for the placings.

Each attempt is a trial. A failed attempt is commonly called a foul.

Every jump is measured from the same line, so the board rewards the athlete who takes off as close to the line as they dare. Measuring to the nearest mark in the sand means the distance is what the whole body carried, not what the feet reached.