The event was won by Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, the nation's first victory in the men's triple jump since 1908 (and only the second overall).

Yoel García's silver put Cuba on the podium for the second Games in a row.

The returning finalists from the 1996 Games were silver medalist Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, bronze medalist Yoelbi Quesada of Cuba, fifth-place finisher Armen Martirosyan of Armenia, sixth-place finisher Brian Wellman of Bermuda (who had also made the final in 1992), and eighth-place finisher Robert Howard of the United States.

Each National Olympic Committee was permitted to enter up to three athletes that had jumped 16.85 metres or further during the qualification period.

After these the top eight athletes carried their record forward and then had a further three attempts to decide the gold medalist.