Zero US men in the Olympic long jump final is a rare absence for the nation of Lewis and Owens

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — From Jesse Owens to Bob Beamon to Carl Lewis and plenty more, Americans have ruled the men's long jump throughout the history of the Summer Olympics, but there was no one from the United States in that event's final on Tuesday night.

Here’s how unusual that is: The only previous instance of a shutout for the country in a non-boycotted Olympics came in 2008. Otherwise, not only has the U.S. always had at least one participant in the final, but it's dominated the event, winning the gold about 75% of the time.

Lewis alone won four consecutive gold medals in the long jump — at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996. Look at the bigger picture, and Americans claimed 22 of the 29 gold medals at past Olympics; Britain is the only other nation to even have won two.

There were Olympic titles for American male long jumpers at 13 of the first 14 Games, including Owens at Berlin in 1936.

Beamon still holds the Olympic record, which he set while earning the gold medal at Mexico City in 1968. American Mike Powell, set the world record in 1991, and took the silver behind Lewis as part of a podium sweep at the Games the following year.

This time, though, there would be no one representing the red-white-and-blue taking the run-up along the purple track and leaping into the sand pit.

None of the three entrants from the U.S. — Jeremiah Davis, who won the country's Olympic trials in June, Malcolm Clemons or Jarrion Lawson — made it through qualifying on Sunday. Lawson scratched on all three of his jumps, while Davis and Clemons didn't go far enough.

Lewis weighed in via social medial, responding to a post asking him to address the failure to put any American in the final by putting up a GIF with the caption: “I don't know what to say.”

The eight finalists are from China, Jamaica, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Colombia, Britain and Croatia.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Jarrion Lawson, of the United States, competes in the men's long jump qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Jeremiah Davis, of the United States, competes in the men's long jump qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Jarrion Lawson, of the United States, competes in the men's long jump qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Malcolm Clemons, of the United States, competes in the men's long jump qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Jeremiah Davis, of the United States, competes in the men's long jump qualification at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday that it authorized its brand on the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria in an apparent Israeli operation targeting Hezbollah's communications network but that another company based in Budapest manufactured them.

Pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah exploded near-simultaneously Tuesday in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people, including an 8-year-old girl, and wounding nearly 3,000.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to be a sophisticated remote attack.

An American official said Israel briefed the United States on Tuesday after the conclusion of the operation, in which small amounts of explosive secreted in the pagers were detonated. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information publicly.

The AR-924 pagers were manufactured by BAC Consulting KFT, based in Hungary’s capital, according to a statement released Wednesday by Gold Apollo.

“According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC,” the statement read.

Gold Apollo chair Hsu Ching-kuang told journalists Wednesday that his company has had a licensing agreement with BAC for the past three years, but did not provide evidence of the contract.

At about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, as people shopped for groceries, sat in cafes or drove cars and motorcycles, the pagers in their hands or pockets started heating up and then exploding — leaving blood-splattered scenes and panicking bystanders.

It appeared that many of those hit were members of Hezbollah, but it was not immediately clear if non-Hezbollah members also carried any of the exploding pagers.

The blasts were mainly in areas where the group has a strong presence, particularly a southern Beirut suburb and in the Beqaa region of eastern Lebanon, as well as in Damascus, according to Lebanese security officials and a Hezbollah official. The Hezbollah official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Hezbollah, which has pointed the blame at Israel, said in a statement Wednesday morning that it would continue its normal strikes against Israel “as in all the past days” as part of what it describes as a support front for its ally, Hamas, and Palestinians in Gaza.

“This path is continuous and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre on Tuesday that it committed against our people, our families and our fighters in Lebanon,” it said. “This is another reckoning that will come, God willing.”

Hezbollah began firing rockets over the border into Israel on Oct. 8, the day after a deadly Hamas-led attack in southern Israel triggered a massive Israeli counteroffensive and the ongoing war in Gaza. Since then, Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged strikes near-daily, killing hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displacing tens of thousands on each side of the border.

At hospitals in Beirut on Wednesday, the chaos of the night before had largely subsided, but relatives of the wounded continued to wait.

Lebanon Health Minister Firas Abiad told journalists during a tour on hospitals Wednesday morning that many of the wounded had severe injuries to the eyes, and others had limbs amputated. Journalists were not allowed to enter hospital rooms or film patients.

The health minister said that the wounded had been distributed among all the area hospitals to avoid any single facility being overloaded and added that Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt offered to help in treating the patients.

Earlier Wednesday, an Iraqi military plane landed in Beirut carrying medical equipment, airport officials said. Abiad said the plane was carrying 15 tons of medicine and medical equipment.

Experts believe explosive material was put into the pagers prior to their delivery and use in a sophisticated supply chain infiltration.

The AR-924 pager, advertised as being “rugged,” contains a rechargeable lithium battery, according to specifications once advertised on Gold Apollo’s website before it was apparently taken down Tuesday after the sabotage attack. It could receive texts of up to 100 characters.

It also claimed to have up to 85 days of battery life. That would be crucial in Lebanon, where electricity outages have been common after years of economic collapse. Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, making them more resilient in emergencies — one of the reasons why many hospitals worldwide still rely on them.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said from the beginning of 2022 until August 2024, Gold Apollo has exported 260,000 sets of pagers, including more than 40,000 sets between January and August of this year. The ministry said the pagers were exported mainly to European and American countries and that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon.

For Hezbollah, the militants also looked at the pagers as a means to sidestep what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks in Lebanon.

“The phone that we have in our hands — I do not have a phone in my hand — is a listening device,” warned Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a February speech.

He later added: “I tell you that the phone in your hands, in your wife’s hands, and in your children’s hands is the agent. It is a deadly agent, not a simple one. It is a deadly agent that provides specific and accurate information. Therefore, this requires great seriousness when confronting it.”

Associated Press journalists Bassem Mroue and Abby Sewell in Beirut; Zeke Miller in Washington; and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

This shows a sing featuring the names of several companies on the door of a house where a Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria is headquartered in Budapest Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

This photo shows a door of a house where a Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria is headquartered in Budapest Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

This photo shows a house where a Hungarian company that allegedly manufactured pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria, is headquartered in Budapest Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

Civil Defense first-responders carry a man who was wounded after his handheld pager exploded, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.(AP Photo)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

Hsu Ching-kuang, chairman of Apollo Gold, talks about the Taiwan company's communication products at the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Johnson Lai)

A police officer inspects a car in which a hand-held pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)

Lebanese soldiers stand guard at a street that leads to the American University hospital where they bring wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)