Dick Fosbury Biography

Dick Fosbury was an American Olympic champion high jumper who revolutionized his sport.

Dick Fosbury had trouble mastering the standard high-jump technique, known as the straddle, as a young high jumper in the early 1960s. So instead he began doing the high jump by running up to the bar with his back to it, doing a modified scissor-kick while leaping and leaning over the bar backwards and horizontal to the ground.

As goofy as it looked, it worked.

Dubbed the “Fosbury Flop” by a Medford, Oregon reporter, Fosbury caused a sensation when he won the gold medal in the 1968 Olympics, jumping a height of 2.24 meters.

The Fosbury Flop has since become the standard technique for elite high jumpers.