Carl Lewis against his main rival of the last few years, Mike Powell, the silver medalist in the event from the 1988 Olympics and the top-ranked long jumper of 1990. Lewis had at that point not lost a long jump competition in a decade, winning the 65 consecutive meets in which he competed. Powell had been unable to defeat Lewis, despite sometimes putting in jumps near world-record territory, only to see them ruled fouls or, as with other competitors such as Larry Myricks, putting in leaps that Lewis himself had only rarely surpassed, only to see Lewis surpass them on his next
Harry Chamberlin finishing 18th individually, and the American team placed 8th (out of 16 nations). He later went on to compete at the 1932 Olympic Games, again riding on the event and jumping teams. He finished 4th individually on the ex-racehorse Pleasant Smiles, despite a fall on cross-country, and the team was able to clinch the first gold medal the American equestrian team had seen. In the jumping competition, Chamberlin rode the Thoroughbred Show Girl over a notoriously difficult course, and went away with the individual silver medal. A disqualification of another team member meant the Americans did not win the gold