AT LARGE :

If you are feeling particularly active as you read this, call in a couple of friends who are exactly 5ft 81/2 in tall. Ask them to lie on the floor, end to end. Make a mark at each end. Thank them, ask them to get up and be prepared to applaud wi ldly.

Stand at one end and, without a run of any sort, make a standing jump to reach or exceed the other mark. Done it? Congratulations. You have just beaten an Olympic record.

It's not as easy as it sounds. You're attempting to beat a mark that stood for nearly 60 years. lt's a small hop for a kangaroo, but a giant leap for mankind. Even the UK's No 1 long jumper, who is out to break this unusual record later this month, admits: "That must have been a terrific jump when you think it was done without any of the modern benefits of weight-training and nutrition."

The story behind the Olympic standing long jump record holder is even more incredible. Ray Ewry, from Lafayette, Indiana, contracted polio as a small boy. Doctors said he would be paralysed for life. But Ewry refused to believe the quacks. He not only regained the use of his legs, but became one of the most successful Olympic athletes, winning 10 gold medals.

From 1900 until 1908, he was unbeatable in the standing long jump, standing high jump and standing triple jump. He held the amateur record for the backward standing long jump, 2.81m.

His long jump world record of 3.47m (11ft 4 3/4in) was set at the Paris Olympics in 1904, a memorable Games that also included a mud-throwing contest between pygmies. His other records were equally impressive: a standing high jump of 1.56m and a standingtriple jump of 10.56m. Ewry didn't compete in the 1912 Games and standing jumps were dropped after that.

Though records for these arcane sports are hard to uncover, it's believed Ewry's triple- jump record is still unbeaten, though his other two world bests have been overtaken. In 1980, Rune Alenen of Sweden cleared 1.90m in the standing high jump, while Johann Evandt of Norway is the standing long-jump holder, with a 1962 leap of 3.65m. This is the mighty hop that Londoner Fred Salle is out to beat, though he will be happy to overtake Ewry.

Salle's own story is pretty unusual. He didn't take up athletics until he was 18, and then by accident. "I went to watch a friend compete in the AAA Junior Championships at Cosford, and somehow I was persuaded to do the long jump because so few were taking part. I borrowed some spikes, just put down a mark and won the event."

He spent four years in the United States on a sports scholarship, interrupting it to win a silver medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games. He competed for Cameroon from 1987-89, but rejoined the British team, taking part in the Olympics, World Championshipsand European Championships.

He would dearly love to challenge Mike Powell's stratospheric 8.95m, though Salle is realistic enough to accept that he may have to be content with a slightly lower-profile record. But standing long jump is not as esoteric as it may seem. The Reebok Sports Hall Championships, a children's comp- etition devised by the late Ron Pickering more than 10 years ago, includes standing long jump. At some schools, it's even part of sports day, because it's ideal in confined spaces.

Salle believes this could be his biggest season in the conventional discipline. With the World Championships in Gothenburg and the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona looming, he hopes to move closer to his best effort, 8.37m in training a few years ago. An 8.10m leap that won the World Cup match at Crystal Palace last year made him the UK No 1.

But at 30, isn't he getting a little too old for the slog of four hours' training a day? "It's true that it gets harder every year, but guys like Linford and Kriss Akabusi prove that age isn't a real barrier. We have a lot of world-class athletes now. You plug into the system, and want to do as well as them.

"I haven't fulfilled my potential," he admits, though he's had a few distractions: becoming a father and completing a master's degree in applied computing. "This season, I believe I shall jump farther, because I am taking it more seriously."

And that includes standing long jumping. He has been working on his technique ever since Reebok agreed to fund a record attempt. "It should suit me because I've always lacked a little speed. I'm more of an elastic person. I use standing long jumps as part of my winter training anyway, because it's a good reference point to see how I'm progressing."

If standing long jump can give him that much benefit, think what an attempt on the backwards record could do . . .