Fosbury flop
The Fosbury Flop is a technique in the high jump that contrasts with the Western Roll and was first used by Dick Fosbury, whose gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics made it the dominant technique of the event as it remains today. Before Fosbury, most elite jumpers used to dive over head first, or had their own specialized techniques.
The method used is to sprint diagonally towards the bar, jump off the outside foot, then curve and leap head-first, back downwards over the bar in a rolling motion keeping as much of the body as possible below the bar. When high jumpers perform this jump, they bend their body in such a way that it is possible for the athlete to clear the bar while his or her center of mass does not.
External links
- Dick Fosbury revolutionised the high jump (from the International Olympic Committee web site)
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