Forbury, who gained Olympic gold in 1968, revolutionized the occasion with a radically totally different leaping method.
Olympic excessive leap champion Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the occasion with a radically totally different leaping method that was finally named after him, has died on the age of 76.
Fosbury gained gold within the excessive leap on the 1968 Olympic Video games in Mexico Metropolis, the place he jumped again first to clear the bar, a method that has since been named the “Fosbury Flop” and is utilized by all excessive jumpers immediately.
The straddle or scissor leap have been widespread methods within the excessive leap. However when foam matting was launched to interrupt the athletes’ fall, Fosbury used his new method for the primary time on the world stage.
The American set a then-Olympic document of two.24 meters to take the gold and alter the game endlessly, with an increasing number of athletes making an attempt the back-first leap because the method steadily gained acceptance.
“Together with his groundbreaking ‘Fosbury Flop’ method, Dick Fosbury not solely gained Olympic gold at Mexico Metropolis 1968 but additionally revolutionized the excessive leap. He was really an Olympic pioneer and legend,” Crew USA posted on Twitter.
On the age of 76, Dick Fosbury 🇺🇲 dies.
He’s thought of probably the most influential athletes in historical past, inventing the back-first method within the males’s Excessive Soar!
He gained Gold within the occasion on the Olympic Video games in 1968 with 2.24m. pic.twitter.com/78lQ19OYqx— oluvade (@Track_Gazette) Mar 13, 2023
World Athletics mentioned in a press release: “Fosbury’s innovation took the excessive leap to a different stage and he remained concerned in athletics all through his life, sharing his information and ability with future generations … He leaves a exceptional legacy.”
The Montreal Video games in 1976 marked the final Olympics through which a excessive jumper gained utilizing a method aside from the Fosbury Flop.
“The world legend might be used too typically,” tweeted dash nice Michael Johnson. “Dick Fosbury was a real LEGEND! He modified a whole occasion endlessly with a method that regarded loopy on the time however the consequence made it the usual.”
Fosbury’s gold and his contribution to the game additionally earned him a spot within the Nationwide Observe and Area Corridor of Fame.
