World Athletics Council Member Willie Banks has donated to the Heritage Collection the singlet and bib number which he wore in 1985 when setting a triple jump world record.
Banks, competing at the US Championships in Indianapolis on 16 June, bounded out to 17.97m (1.5m/s) in the second round to add eight centimetres to the record Brazil&rsquo;s Joao Carlos de Oliveira had established 10 years before when winning the Pan American Games.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/fdb93a3e-7793-47e9-87e3-117f802e5681.png?cachebuster=1b793c54-a6cf-4b34-9584-307731e3b09a" alt="Willie Banks' vest" width="600" height="400" />
Banks&rsquo; world record would similarly last a decade until surpassed by one centimetre by Jonathan Edwards in Salamanca in 1995.
&ldquo;I knew that I was going to break the record before I did it,&rdquo; commented Banks recently. &ldquo;I had told three people that I would break the record before the jump, right after my first attempt (17.37m). I told my friend Lee Balkin, a high jumper. I also told one of my triple jump competitors and a judge at the triple jump board.
&ldquo;I knew because a special feeling came over me while I was trying to stay loose for my next jump. I closed my eyes and watched myself do the triple jump. I realised that God had sent me a sign that I was going to break the record and that belief carried me to 17.97m.&rdquo;
Along with the donated singlet and number, the Heritage Collection has gratefully been given a bag of sand which Banks took from the pit after the competition.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/d11afe40-94eb-44cf-a184-1d1a64b2bed6.png?cachebuster=4f49a213-75c6-4a0e-a74c-44e09aa4ceed" alt="Sand from the pit where Willie Banks set a triple jump world record" width="600" height="400" />
<h3> Three a &lsquo;frustrating&rsquo; favourite number</h3>
Did Banks believe his world record would last 10 years?
&ldquo;Actually, I thought I would break it again soon afterwards,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a little frustrating not to be able to jump over 18 metres and I really wanted to be the first to break that barrier. Three centimetres!&rdquo;
&ldquo;My favourite number was always 3,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I am William Augustus Banks III; I was born in March, the third month of the year; and I was a triple jumper! Why, then, did I miss my mark by three centimetres!?&rdquo;
<h3>&lsquo;My achilles bled&hellip; I could not train properly&rsquo;</h3>
Back at the Indianapolis track on 16 July 1988, Banks did become the first man to jump beyond 18 metres, and he did it twice on the same day. However, the wind readings for his 18.06m (4.9m/s) and 18.20m (5.2m/s) jumps were way beyond the allowable limit for world record purposes (2.0m/s).
&ldquo;I truly thought that I could jump over 18m,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After that day in 1988, my achilles in both legs bled through to the sheath and attached itself. I could not train properly for the rest of my career. I had three surgeries, but none helped. It was quite a let down from a glorious carrier.
&ldquo;Fortunately, I am still able to look back and be proud that I was the first human ever to surpass 18 metres in any condition,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;All I can say is I am blessed.&rdquo;
<h3>On this day, 8 August</h3>
Banks was one of the most exuberant performers on the international circuit during the 1980s and a popular competitor around the world. He encouraged spectators to rhythmically clap him down the runway, which transformed the atmosphere at track meetings for the good.
Banks&rsquo; record at major international championships does not reflect his immense talent. Notably, he closed out his world record season in 1985 with victory at the IAAF World Cup in Canberra on 4 October.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/21f1e336-39eb-451e-ba10-c88b6b2fcd42.jpg?cachebuster=13d5b176-1759-4703-9df7-f87d54223bed" alt="Willie Banks at the 1983 World Championships" width="600" height="600" />
Two years earlier, on 8 August 1983 in Helsinki, Banks jumped 17.18m to take the silver medal at the inaugural IAAF World Championships, an anniversary which today&rsquo;s donation announcement commemorates.
&ldquo;Soon after being elected to the Council in Doha last September, I visited the Heritage World Championships Exhibition in the city,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was at that moment that I realised how fortunate we are to have a programme which is protecting, promoting, and enhancing our sport&rsquo;s heritage. That is why I decided to play my part and make this donation.&rdquo;
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage

World Athletics Council Member Willie Banks has donated to the Heritage Collection the singlet and bib number which he wore in 1985 when setting a triple jump world record.

Banks donates world record singlet and number to Heritage Collection

Athletics legends Willie Banks, Gail Devers and IAAF President Sebastian Coe were officially inducted into the AG Memorial Van Damme Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Brussels on Thursday (5).
Banks, the former world record-holder in the triple jump, took part in the Memorial Van Damme five times. After three runner-up places, the flamboyant US triple jumper finally won in 1985 with a phenomenal 17.58m. That jump stood as the meeting record for 10 years until Jonathan Edwards went two centimetres farther in 1995.
&ldquo;Willie Banks was very loved among the spectators,&rdquo; said former meeting director Wilfried Meert. &ldquo;Banks could play the crowd like no one else. He&rsquo;s the &lsquo;inventor&rsquo; of the rhythmic clapping before and during the run-up. These days every athlete asks for the support of the crowd, but Willie started doing that in the 80s at the Stockholm meeting. When he also started doing that in Brussels, he stole the hearts of the crowd right away.&rdquo;
Two-time Olympic 100m champion and three-time world 100m hurdles champion Devers participated at the Memorial Van Damme five times between 1992 and 2002, resulting in four wins: in 1992, 2000 and 2002 in the sprint hurdles and in 1996 in the 100m flat.
&ldquo;The general public will know Devers as the athlete with the long and colourful nails, but we particularly remember her for her phenomenal performances on the track,&rdquo; said Meert. &ldquo;She's a three-time Olympic champion, five-time world champion and four-time world indoor champion. Her races at the Memorial were always good. In 2002, at the age of almost 36, she won the 100m hurdles in 12.49 &ndash; world class!&rdquo;
Coe took part in the inaugural Memorial Van Damme in 1977 as a 21-year-old, finishing third in the 800m, and returned one year later to win in a British record time. But it was his performance there in 1981 that made history.
One year after becoming Olympic 1500m champion in Moscow, Coe returned to Brussels with one goal: breaking the world mile record, which Steve Ovett had taken away from him two days earlier. He did it in style, taking more than a second off his rival&rsquo;s mark with a 3:47.33 clocking &ndash; the first world record in the history books of the Memorial Van Damme.
&ldquo;In 1977 nobody in Belgium had heard of Sebastian Coe,&rdquo; said Meert. &ldquo;We only added him to the field a day before the meeting at the request of his manager and his father Peter, who was also his coach. We certainly didn&rsquo;t regret it. The affection between the Memorial and Sebastian Coe was and still is mutual. After his career he came to watch the Memorial many times, and since 2015 he has done so in his capacity as IAAF President."&nbsp;
The Memorial Van Damme Hall of Fame was introduced in 2017 and in its first two years inducted Heike Drechsler, Steve Cram, Merlene Ottey, Hicham El Guerrouj, Kim Gevaert, Tia Hellebaut and Wilfried Meert.
The three new inductees will be honoured during the main competition on Friday, with some of their most memorable moments from the Memorial Van Damme shown on the big screen for the fans.

Athletics legends Willie Banks, Gail Devers and IAAF President Sebastian Coe were officially inducted into the AG Memorial Van Damme Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Brussels on Thursday (5).

Banks donates world record singlet and number to Heritage Collection

Banks, Devers and Coe inducted into Memorial Van Damme hall of fame