Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high jump in the 1960s.
A sample of Dick Fosbury’s style. PDO
The athletics legend who revolutionized the high jump Richard “Dick” Fosbury has died of lymph node cancer at the age of 76. Among other things, the news covered the matter NBC.
The American jumper is remembered as the developer of the flopping technique. In the “Fosbury flop”, the bar is crossed with the back first. The technique is used by all of today’s top jumpers.
Fosbury won Olympic gold in Mexico in 1968.
Fosbury developed the flopping style already in high school, and since then improved his record by leaps and bounds. Mexico’s Olympic gold came with a score of 224. It was an Olympic record at the time.
Other jumping techniques did not suit the young man at all. In the 60s, other competitors rolled over the bar facing the ground.
– My coach had tried to teach me the curling technique, but my results were miserable. I was the worst high jumper in the whole region, Fosbury said at the time.
– I improved my record by 15 centimeters in one day, just by changing the position of my body.
Fosbury as photographed in 2021. PDO