High jumping as a track and field sporting event changed forever at the Mexico City Olympic Games on 20 October 1968. On that day Dick Fosbury, a gangly and introverted 21 year old civil engineering student from Oregon State University cleared the bar with a 2.24 metre jump, winning himself and the US a gold medal and an Olympic record in the process.
It’s how he cleared the bar that was, at the time, so revolutionary. He used a jumping style that, naturally enough, has become known as the “Fosbury Flop”.
Pre-Fosbury, most elite jumpers used the "Straddle" technique, the "Western Roll", "Eastern Cut-Off" or "Scissors Jump" to clear the bar. Today, the Fosbury Flop is the dominant style used by elite high jumpers all over the world.
As a high school jumper, Dick was a lousy straddler, and that inspired him to experiment. Despite the dire warnings of every coach who watched him, he invented the flop. What he had discovered as a schoolboy is that by lowering his center of gravity by stretching out on his back he could actually jump higher.
Predominantly, athletes using the flop adopt a "J" shaped approach, where the first three to five strides head in a straight line at ninety degrees to the bar, with the final four to five being run in a curve, allowing the athlete to lean into his or her turn, away from the bar. Fosbury himself cleared the bar with his hands by his sides, whereas some athletes cross the bar with their arms held out to the side or even above their heads, optimising their mass distribution.
Fosbury's technique took a while to catch on. It just looked so damn weird back then.
The actual term "Fosbury Flop" is credited to the Medford Mail Tribune, which wrote the headline "Fosbury Flops Over the Bar" after one of his high school meets. The reporter that day also wrote that Fosbury looked like “a fish flopping in a boat”.
In a refreshing demonstration of understatement, Fosbury, who died in March 2023, had this to say after his Olympic victory: "I think quite a few kids will begin trying it my way now. I don't guarantee results, and I don't recommend my style to anyone. All I say is if a kid can't straddle, he can try it my way."
As an example of innovation it reminds us that the old way is not always the best way, and it’s often the gangly and introverted engineering types that find themselves to be the drivers of change.
Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
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References
Fearless Fosbury Flops to Glory, Joseph Durso, The New York Times, October 20 1968
wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosbury_flop
todayinhistory.blog/2019/10/12/october-12-1968-the-fosbury-flop
Video: Dick Fosbury Changes The High Jump Forever - Fosbury Flop- Mexico 1968 Olympics
Video: Getting a Leg Up: High Jump Explained in biomechnical terms by SciFri
Images
1. Dick Fosbury. Credit: AFP/Getty Images
2. Young Dick Fosbury. Image: ScFri Video (See Above)
3. Jumping Styles. Credit: todayinhistory.blog
4 & 5. Fosbury Flop. Credit: ScFri Video (See Above)
6. Oregon State University tribute sculpture by Ellen Tykeso
