A FINAL FAREWELL TO INNOVATOR FOSBURY
The man who changed the high jump for ever dies at the age of 76
DICK FOSBURY, one of sport’s greatest pioneers, has passed away at the age of 76. The American, who was to the high jump what Johan Cruyff was to the turn, passed away on Sunday after a recurrence of lymphoma, with which he had first been diagnosed in 2008.
His legacy will be the gold medal he won in 1968 with a wild new ‘ flop’ technique that had never been seen before but has endured as the blueprint for all jumpers ever since.
The American track legend Michael Johnson tweeted: ‘The world legend is probably used too often. Dick Fosbury was a true legend.
‘He changed an entire event for ever with a technique that looked crazy at the time but the result made it the standard.’
Prior to Fosbury’s revolutionary development, high jumpers had rotated through a variety of methods including the ‘scissors’, the ‘ Western roll’ and the ‘straddle’.
But then Fosbury changed his game for ever.
His ‘flop’ was born from curiosity and necessity, after he struggled as a 1.54 metre jumper with the preferred straddle and scissors techniques of the era during his time at Medford High School in Oregon in the 1960s.
His solution was to curl his run up to the bar before twisting and launching a jump that saw him clear the bar backwards with an arched back.
The lack of padded landing mats at the time meant he suffered damage to his vertebrae during his early attempts at innovation, but by 1964 a local newspaper had coined the 17- year- old’s peculiar move as ‘the Fosbury Flop’.
Even then his coaches at Oregon State university athletics team tried to return
Fosbury to a more orthodox mode of tackling the bar, but his vindication in 1968 was immense.
By winning the NCAA Championship, Fosbury had earned a place on the US Olympic team in Mexico, and from there he cleared all of his heights at the first attempt on the opening day.
Then, on October 20, he failed his first two cracks at 2.24m before sailing clear in a new Olympic record and a place in his sport’s history. More than five decades on his method remains the standard for high jumpers.
Fosbury never again reached such heights and in later life admitted he struggled with the acclaim that came from inventing the move in his name.
In a 2012 interview, he said: ‘It was too much. I was a small- town kid who did something way beyond what I had ever expected to do.
‘I liked the attention, but I wanted it to be over at a point. It didn’t work that way.’
Upon his death, tributes poured in from across the track and field community.
Four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon said: ‘R.I.P. 1968 Olympic gold medallist and high jump legend and pioneer Dick Fosbury, who passed away on Sunday. Condolences to his family and friends.
‘Godspeed, Fos, from an eternally grateful sport.’
News of Fosbury’s passing was announced on Instagram by his agent Ray Schulte.
‘It is with a very heavy heart I have to release the news that long time friend and client Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully in his sleep early Sunday morning after a short bout with a recurrence of lymphoma,’ he wrote.
‘Dick will be greatly missed by friends and fans from around the world. A true legend, and friend of all.’