D!ck Fosbury, the American high jumper who revolutionized his sport, died March 12, at age 76, due to recurrent lymphoma. He famously won the Olympic High Jump in 1968, breaking the existing Olympic record with a winning jump of 2.24 meters (7' 4¼"). If I remember correctly, that was more than 2" higher than the previous Olympic record.
Fosbury invented this technique, on his own in high school, and perfected it in college at Oregon State University. By 1968 in the Mexico City Olympics, most of the world saw Fosbury and his unique high jump method for the first time. It had already been dubbed as the "Fosbury Flop" by local sports writers while he was in college.
Fosbury revolutionized high jumping. By the 1972 Munich Olympics, 28 of the 40 competitors used the Fosbury Flop, although gold medalist Jüri Tarmak used the old straddle technique. By 1980, 13 of the 16 Olympic finalists used it. Of the 36 Olympic medalists in the event from 1972 through 2000, 34 used the Fosbury Flop, making it the most popular technique in high jumping.
Although there are some excellent still photos of Fosbury at work, the best way to understand how revolutionary the Flop was is to see videos of, and compare it to the older "Straddle" style.
First a video of Fosbury and the Flop:
Next a video of the Russian high jumper Valerij Brumel, who dominated high jumping earlier in the 1960s. He was a Straddle jumper.
