Won gold with “Fosbury Flop”
Formative high jumper Dick Fosbury is dead
03/13/2023 9:21 p.m
High jumper Dick Fosbury revolutionized his sport with a new jumping technique – while also bagging gold at the 1968 Olympics. As an athlete he was unique, his legendary status is undisputed. Fosbury has died at the age of 76.
American track and field legend Dick Fosbury is dead. The 1968 Olympic high jump champion, who revolutionized his sport with the “Fosbury Flop”, died of lymph node cancer at the age of 76. This was confirmed by his agent Ray Schulte.
Fosbury’s cancer was first diagnosed in April 2008, but has been considered cured since 2009. “It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that my longtime friend Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully on Sunday morning. He was a true legend,” said Schulte.
Richard Douglas “Dick” Fosbury turned the sports world upside down in Mexico City on October 20, 1968: Gold in the high jump, with an Olympic record of 2.24 m – after the 21-year-old’s performance, nothing should be the same in his sport as before. Previously, the straddle style, in which athletes cross the bar on their stomachs, was standard. After that, the “Fosbury flop” became the dominant jumping style. Mainly due to the success of Fosbury, who was the first to consistently use the biomechanical advantages of the new approach. Also because he once broke his hand during an unsuccessful straddle attempt.
The image combo shows the jumping style that made Fosbury a golden boy in 1968.
(Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
If his coach at the time, Bernie Wagner, had had his way, what is probably the greatest technical revolution in athletics history would not have taken place. Wagner thought Fosbury was completely on the wrong track as he prepared to cross the bar in his own unique way. “So nothing will come of you. It would be better if you went to the circus,” Wagner advised his fast but clumsy athlete.
But Fosbury consistently went through with his plan, just as he was a bit different from other athletes anyway. He didn’t like to train, was a loner. Instead of attending the Olympic opening ceremony, he drove to the pyramids in a van to watch the sunset and spend the night there.
According to Fosbury, “being an Olympic champion” was “completely overwhelmed”. He left the Olympic Village just two days after his triumph, retiring a year later.
And how did the name “Flop” come about? A sportswriter from Fosbury’s native Oregon once wrote, “Fosbury Flops Over Bar.” He likened the jumping style to a fish that flops onto land after being caught – that is, turns on its back and arches its body. The appropriate name for the leap into a new era was born. Now its inventor is dead.