Phillip Kent Shinnick is an American track and field athlete, known primarily for the long jump. He represented the United States at the 1964 Olympics. He qualified for the Olympics by finishing third at the 1964 United States Olympic Trials, where winner Ralph Boston set the world record of 8.34 m, to beat the 8.31 m of Igor Ter-Ovanesyan set two years earlier and equalled by Boston a month earlier. However, on May 25, 1963, Shinnick jumped 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m) at the 1963 Modesto Relays more than a year earlier. Shinnick was credited with beating Boston at that meet, but a wind reading was not taken on Shinnick's jump. So in effect, had the jump been officiated properly and the wind legal, Boston should have been beating Shinnick's mark. Boston had problems with the wind himself. He jumped 8.49 m to win the trials, but that jump was wind aided. Boston added another centimeter to the record at the 1965 Modesto Relays.

The men's long jump was one of four men's jumping events on the Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics program in Tokyo. It was held on 18 October 1964. 37 athletes from 23 nations entered, with 5 not starting in the qualification round. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Lynn Davies of Great Britain, breaking a string of eight straight American victories. It was Great Britain's first gold medal in the men's long jump, and first medal since 1900. It was only the second time the United States had not won the event, with Sweden's William Petersson in 1920 the only non-American to win before Davies. Ralph Boston of the United States and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union became the third and fourth men to win a second medal in the long jump.