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Champ Dwight plans big night
Athens - American long jumper Dwight Phillips, the reigning world champion, topped the Olympic Games long jump qualifying rounds and then promised to go full tilt after the world record, he said on Tuesday.
"It was light and easy. I'm just glad to be at the Olympics. I can't wait for a chance to go after the world record," said Phillips, who leapt out to 8.31 metres with his one and only jump.
The current world record stands at 8.95m to another American, Mike Powell, when he won the 1991 World Championships.
Phillips set his personal best of 8.60m when he won at the Linz Grand Prix meeting earlier this month, the longest jump in the world for four years.
Just six men went over the automatic qualifying mark of 8.10m, with Mauritius's Jonathan Chimier extending his own national record with a jump of 8.28m for second place behind Phillips.
Cuba's reigning Olympic champion Ivan Pedroso was among the six best of the rest that also progressed, with a best of 8.05m from his three jumps.
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