Dick Fosbury

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Olympic medal record
Men's Track & Field
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1968 Mexico City	High Jump

Richard Douglas "Dick" Fosbury (born March 6, 1947 in Portland, Oregon) is a former track and field athlete who revolutionized the high jump event, using a back-first technique, now known as the Fosbury Flop. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backwards over the bar. He continues to be involved in athletics as President of the World Olympians Association ^[1]

Career

Fosbury was born in Portland, first started experimenting with this new technique at age 16, while attending high school in Medford.^[2] He disliked the dominant style of the day, the "straddle method," and began experimenting with the outdated "upright scissors method," which he developed until he was jumping face-up with his legs together.^[3] His high-jump technique was named the "Fosbury Flop" by an Oregon reporter.^{[citation needed]}

After graduating from Medford High School in 1965, he enrolled at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Fosbury won the 1968 NCAA title using his new technique, as well as the U.S. Olympic Trials.

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, he took the gold medal and set a new Olympic record at 2.24 meters (7 feet 4.25 inches), displaying the potential of the new technique. Despite the initial skeptical reactions from the high jumping community, the "Fosbury Flop" quickly gained acceptance.

Four years later, in Munich, 28 of the 40 competitors used Fosbury's technique. By 1980, thirteen of the sixteen Olympic finalists used it. ^[4] Of the 36 Olympic medalists in the event from 1972 through 2000, 34 used "the Flop."^[3] Today it is the most popular high jumping technique in modern high jumping.^[5]

Personal life

Fosbury graduated from OSU in 1972 with a degree in civil engineering and is the co-owner of Galena Engineering, Inc. in Ketchum, Idaho, where he has lived since 1977.^[6]

In March 2008, Fosbury was diagnosed with stage one lymphoma. He had surgery a month later to remove a cancerous tumor engulfing his lower vertebra. Due to concerns about tumor's proximity to the spine, it was not completely removed and he was put on a chemotherapy regimen. ^[7] In March 2009 Fosbury announced that he was in remission.^[8]

Footnotes