Heike Drechsler spearheads the list of most successful female long jumpers at the Summer Olympics

The Long Jump event comes under track and field jumping events held at the Summer Olympics.

While the men's long jump has been part of the Summer Olympics since 1896, when the first Olympics was held, the women's long jump was added to the program at the 1948 Olympic Games.

With the Tokyo Olympics coming upon us, let's take a look at the most successful female long jumpers at the Summer Olympics.

(Note - Ranking is based on gold medal count. If athletes have an equal number of gold medals, then the number of silver medals, and further bronze medals, are used as the deciding factors for the rankings).

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#4 - Jackie Joyner - USA - 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996

(Ranking - Athlete - Country - Years of Olympic Participation)

Total - 3 (Gold - 1, Silver - 0, Bronze - 2)

Jackie Joyner-Kersee with her gold medals at the Seoul Summer Olympic Games

American Jackie Joyner is among the most famous names in women's athletics. Joyner has won 6 Olympic medals in her career, with 3 of those coming in the long jump.

Joyner won gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with a jump of 7.40m. She went on to win bronze at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympcis with jumps of 7.07m and 7.00m rspectively.

(Note * - Total here refers to total medals won in the long jump event. Jackie Joyner has also won Olympic medals in other athletic disciplines).

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#2 - Elzbieta Krzseinska - Poland - 1952, 1956, 1960

Total - 2 (Gold - 1, Silver - 1, Bronze - 0)

Poland's Elzbieta Krzseinska picked up her first medal - a gold - at the 1956 Summer Olympics with an effort of 6.35m while she jumped 6.27m to pick up a silver at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

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#2 - Brittney Reese - USA - 2008, 2012, 2016

Total - 2 (Gold - 1, Silver - 1, Bronze - 0)

Silver medalist Brittney Reese of the United States at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

American Brittney Reese won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a jump of 7.12m. Four years later, Reese jumped 7.15m which bagged her a silver in Rio.

In an interview in December, Reese stated she has been training for the Tokyo Olympics and has her sights set on winning another gold.

"Knowing that the Olympics were postponed allowed me to focus on my mentality and the small things I feel are needed in order to win another Olympic gold medal. I have been coping well with all the changes and it's great to be able to train at the Chula Vista Elite Training Center in California, as they take good care of us while making sure everyone is safe."

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#1 - Heike Drechsler - Germany - 1988, 1992, 2000 -

Total* - 3 (Gold - 2, Silver - 1, Bronze - 0)

Florence Griffith-Joyner celebrates winning the gold medal in the Women's 100 metres final event with second placed silver medallist Evelyn Ashford ( L ) and third placed bronze medallist Heike Drechsler of East Germany at the XXIV Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea

Heike Drechsler picked up her first medal - a silver - at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with a jump of 7.22m.

The German went on to win gold at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona with a jump of 7.14m and then won her second gold eight years later in Sydney with a jump of 6.99m.

Drechsler is the only woman to have won two Olympic gold medals in the long jump.

(Note * - Total here refers to total medals won in the long jump event. Drechsler has also won Olympic medals in other athletic disciplines).

(With inputs from the official Olympic website)

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