The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete jumped three times. At least the top twelve athletes (including ties) moved on to the final; if more than twelve reached the qualifying distance, all who did so advanced. Distances were reset for the final round. Finalists jumped three times, after which the eight best jumped three more times (with the best distance of the six jumps counted).
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.