How a faulty safety pin cost Ivana Spanovic a gold medal

There was a deafening silence at London's Olympic Stadium in 2017 as the long jump medalists at the World Athletics Championships were announced. A shocking turn of events meant that Ivana Spanovic, who had recorded the longest jump of the day, would not be called to the podium. But why?

It only took seconds for those in attendance and around the world to realize – Ivana Spanovic had just lost a World Championship long jump gold medal... because of her jersey number! How did that happen?

Let's take a look back at the 2017 World Athletics Championships, which took place in the British capital during a hot August.

Serbia's Ivana Spanovic was one of the favorites to win her event after taking home a bronze at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics a year earlier.

And the chances were good for the athlete, who had led the competition with her last jump.

And so it was. On her final attempt, Ivana Spanovic jumped, confident that she was superior to her competitors and that she could surpass the 7.02 meters of Britney Reese, who briefly led before Spanovic's final attempt.

Spanovic's jump was good. At first glance, it was clear that she had jumped at least 7 meters, so it didn't seem too unlikely that she had managed another 3 centimeters.

The Serbian had done it, an entire country cheered and the stands applauded a jump that would go down in history. And they weren't wrong. The jump is historic, but it's not a positive note for Spanovic.

It didn't take long for the result of the jump to appear on the screen: 6.91 m. This meant that Ivana Spanovic not only missed the gold medal, but also the other medals, beaten by Russia's Darya Klishina and Tianna Bartoletta from the USA.

Everyone who followed the competition at the time was stunned. If she was well over 7 meters, how could the jump be considered 6.91 m?

The slow-motion replay showed exactly what had happened. It was the number attached to her back that threw out the result.

Spanovic managed a perfect jump, but in mid-flight one of the safety pins securing her number came loose and the paper touched the ground 10 to 15 centimeters behind where the athlete had originally landed.

The jumper couldn't believe it. Before she knew what had happened, her angry and disbelieving look disappeared and she finally burst into tears.

Bad luck and a dodgy safety pin had ruined years of work. And despite the Serbian federation's complaint, the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) was strict and stuck with the 6.91 meters.

The worst thing was that the IAAF had already agreed that in 2018, a year later, the numbers on the athletes' jerseys should be removed.

And so it happened that Ivana Spanovic lost a final because of a safety pin. An unfortunate protagonist of a day of competition that has already gone down in long jump history.