The purpose of this study was to analyze the transformation of the center of gravity (CG) in the running single leg horizontal jump and to investigate the influence of the forward rotation of the takeoff leg in achieving vertical CG velocity. The subjects were 98 male long jumpers, whose mean best official jump among their recorded trials was 7.16 ± 0.66 m. Their takeoff motion was videotaped with two high-speed cameras. Horizontal CG velocity at touchdown and vertical CG velocity at toe-off had significantly positive correlations with jumping distance; the decrease in horizontal CG velocity during the takeoff phase was significantly and negatively correlated with jumping distance. Forward rotation of the spring-mass model did not contribute to an increase in vertical CG velocity, although it did contribute to an increase in horizontal CG velocity just before toe-off