Dick Fosbury, arguably the most influential high-jumper of my lifetime is dead at 76. RIP
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Fosbury flops
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I didn’t see Fosbury’s 1968 Olympics win on the telly: too young to stay up for the BBC live coverage.
Interestingly, the ‘72 Olympic champ used the straddle rather than the flop.
I tried High Jump at secondary school in the 70s, and was the least worst in my year at it so got to represent the school at the annual district meets. But I stuck to the straddle technique as the landing area was just a shallow sandpit, and was nowhere near good enough to compete with other local jumpers from some other schools, who mainly used the roll that I never mastered.
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This sets a new personal record for 'people you thought died years ago'. I just assumed - likely from his name and indeed the phrase 'Fosbury flop' - that he was active in the 1920s/30s and so was dead or very old by the time our PE teacher mentioned him.
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