Marquis Dendy wasn’t at his best.
But on Sunday, it didn’t matter.
The Florida track and field star jumped 8.42 meters in the men’s long jump on Sunday to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, where he’ll represent Team USA in Rio.
“It still wasn’t a good jump, as far as technicalities,” Dendy said in a release.
Dendy, a reigning World Indoor Championships gold medalist, became just the third UF men’s long-jumper in program history to qualify for the event in the Olympics.
“Crazy, crazy competition. It was bananas,” Dendy said. “If you didn’t watch that, you missed out on something crazy.”
Meanwhile, current Florida track athletes KeAndre Bates, Arman Hall and Najee Glass failed to qualify for the Olympics in their events on Sunday.
Bates finished sixth in the men’s long jump (8.32 meters), and Hall and Glass placed fourth (45.09 seconds) and seventh (45.48) in the 400 meters, respectively.
Hall and Glass still have an opportunity to be selected for the 4x400 relay pool, which will be announced on July 11.
“Watching Marquis and KeAndre and Will (Claye) be a part of that was something special,” UF track and field coach Mike Holloway said in a release. “The passion all of them put into it was amazing. It’s something that we’ll be talking about for a long time.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org or follow him on Twitter at @icohenb.
Marquis Dendy competes in the triple jump during the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
