American track-and-field athlete, who won the gold medal in the
high jump event at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. At the 1968 games
Fosbury revolutionized the sport of high jumping with a new technique,
which became known as the Fosbury Flop. Instead of leaping facing the bar
and swinging first one leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring
motion—the dominant method of the time—Fosbury turned just as he leapt,
flinging his body backward over the bar with his back arched, following
with his legs and landing on his shoulders.
Born Richard Douglas Fosbury in Portland, Oregon, he was educated
at Oregon State University. He started experimenting with his new technique
while in high school, improving his results dramatically with the new form.
In 1968 Fosbury won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
indoor and outdoor high jump titles and placed third in the event at the
United States Olympic trials. At the 1968 Olympic Games his innovative
style captivated the crowd as he cleared every height up to 2.22 m (7 ft
3 1/4 in) without a miss. (In the high jump event the bar is moved incrementally
higher as each successful competitor clears it at each height, until only
one competitor remains. If there is a tie, the competitor with the fewest
misses is declared the winner.) At the height of 2.24 m (7 ft 4 1/4 in),
all the remaining competitors failed, and Fosbury missed his first two
attempts before clearing the height on his final attempt, winning the gold
medal and setting a new Olympic record. The next year Fosbury won the NCAA
outdoor title again. He failed to make the 1972 Olympic team, and he never
set a world record during his career, but his innovative style of jumping
had a profound effect, becoming the dominant method in the sport. He was
inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1981 and into
the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1992.
Topics; Motivation,
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