Jeff Henderson appeared to be done, out of gas with one attempt left in Saturday's Olympic long jump final.

Three challengers had moved ahead of Henderson after he grabbed the lead on his opening leap.

Then Henderson, 27, stepped to the runway for his final jump at Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

He went through his elongated routine, sprinted down the runway, then uncorked his best jump of the two-day event -- 27 feet, 6 inches -- to edge out the leader by one half inch and win the gold medal in his first Olympic appearance.

[ARKANSANS IN RIO: Full coverage of 24 in Olympics]

Henderson, a Sylvan Hills graduate from the Pulaski County community of McAlmont, edged ahead of South Africa's Luvo Manyango, but there were still two jumpers left with a chance to beat him.

They didn't.

Great Britain's Gregory Rutherford, the 2012 gold medalist, went 27-2½ and Jarrion Lawson, a University of Arkansas athlete, failed to best his 27-0¾ from an earlier attempt.

Henderson draped an American flag over his shoulders and took a victory lap.

Manyango won silver, while Rutherford won the bronze.

"A gold medal is like a newborn baby," Henderson said. "It's just lovely."

NBC didn't include the long jump final among its live telecasts on Saturday night -- it wasn't shown until almost 11 p.m. -- so those wanting to watch had to watch it online.

Laverne Henderson, Jeff's father, said he watched from a cell phone surrounded by family and friends at his McAlmont home.

He said he was pleased with Henderson's first jump of 26-11, but then was a bit confused by his son's next four jumps of 26-0½, 26-6¾, 26-1¼ and 26-11½

"Jeff is a 28-feet jumper and nobody was jumping 28 feet," Laverne Henderson said. "Jeff was jumping down to their level."

He thought maybe his son had tired, until the final jump.

"He pulled it off," Laverne said.

Laverne later spoke with Jeff's coach, 1984 triple jump gold medalist Al Joyner, who told Laverne that Jeff needed to calm his nerves.

"I said 'Al, he wasn't jumping good,' and Al said, 'No he wasn't,' " Laverne Henderson said. "He said 'I had to get him to relax.' "

Henderson is the second Arkansan to win gold in the long jump and first since Lonoke's Eddie Hamm won gold at the Amsterdam games in 1928.

He is the ninth Arkansan to win a track and field medal in all, and the first to win gold since Maxie Parks, who was part of the 1,600-meter relay team at the Montreal games in 1976.

It was the first U.S. gold in the event since Dwight Phillips in 2004.

"It feels good," Henderson said on the online webcast, before jogging around the stadium.

When he popped up from the pit after his final jump, he took off running in celebration, then did so again, this time the other direction, when he saw he had taken the lead.

Henderson, whose wind-aided 28-2¼ at the Olympic Trials last month was the best jump in the world said he knew the significance immediately.

"I knew it was over," he told the Washington Post. " 'OK, this is over.' I knew I won the competition after this jump."

Henderson entered Saturday's final as one of the few to watch. He had the best jump in the Olympic Trials last month in Eugene, Ore., and he needed one jump in Friday's semifinals to advance to Saturday.

His first jump Saturday of 26-11 equaled his qualifying jump and was good enough for a lead after the first and second round. But, Henderson tailed off as others took turns with the lead.

Rutherford took the lead with a 26-11½ in his third attempt. Soon after, Lawson took the lead at 27-0¾. Then, Manyonga's 27-2 took the lead, and he extended his lead with a 27-5½ on his final jump.

When Henderson took off for his final jump, he was in line to finish fourth. And his final jump still didn't equal the wind-aided 28-2¼ he jumped at the trials -- the longest in the world this year entering the Olympics -- but it was good enough for gold Saturday.

Lawson's final jump appeared to be close to Henderson's, but he was marked at 25-6 to finish fourth after it was ruled his left hand touched the sand before his feet. Lawson finished fourth, missing out on a medal in his first Olympics.

Sports on 08/14/2016