Olympic gold medalist and record-breaking track and field star, Bob Beamon, is the new chief executive officer for the Art of the Olympians Museum and Gallery in Fort Myers.

Beamon is best known for his world record in the long jump at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, which remained unchallenged for 23 years. He has since been elected into the USA Track & Field and U.S. Olympic hall of fames. Beamon made Olympic history jumping 29 feet 2 1/2 inches, beating the previous record by nearly 2 feet and becoming the first man to jump more than 28 feet in the long jump. In a BBC interview at WGCU he said he felt like he was flying, “I don’t even want to come down. As a matter of fact I’m still up there right now as we speak. I just feel so wonderful about the accomplishments but I take my accomplishments very seriously in promoting the great vision that one needs to have in order to have an accomplishment of that magnitude.”

In 1999, he co-authored a book about his life titled “The Man Who Could Fly.”  Beamon previously served as director of athletic development at Florida Atlantic University and most recently was associate athletic director at Chicago State University.