What Is the Fosbury Flop?

Somersaults. Foam Pads. Scissors. What Is the Fosbury Flop?

Fosbury Flop

The Fosbury Flop, named after Dick Fosbury, changed the way high jumpers cross the bar and land.

Introduced at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, it was called ugly, to say the least.

Fosbury jumped his personal best there to win the Gold Medal with a jump of 7’4”.

What Did High Jumpers Do Before the Flop?

Most viewers were used to high jumpers sailing beautifully over the high bar with legs in a scissors shape, careful to land on their feet or roll on the other side.

Or, they saw jumpers use the straddle, where they went face and chest first over the bar.

How Was the Fosbury Flop Different?

Fosbury defied all conventions by jumping over the bar on his back, head-first instead of legs first, face up instead of down, falling onto the ground on the other side on his shoulders and back instead of his feet or arms.

Changing the landing material on the other side of the bar to a deep foam pad made the Fosbury Flop safe.

Fosbury had found then-current techniques, which favored a burly, muscular build, difficult for his slight build.

At 16 he developed the technique that changed the way jumpers use their center of gravity.

He twisted, turning his back to the bar just as he approached and curved his body head-down, knees up, over the bar as he sailed over in a partial backwards somersault motion.

Initially, he held his arms close to his sides, in what looked like an attempt to be sure he didn’t hit the bar on the way over. Later, jumpers laid their arms out straight away from their bodies.

How Fast Did Jumpers Adopt the New Technique?

The last time a high jumper won a world record with the straddle technique, where jumpers face down as they roll over the bar, the jump style that dominated before the Flop, was 1978, in Milan, with a 7’8.5” jump.

By 1980, 13 of the 16 Olympic finalists were using the Fosbury Flop.

Click here to see a coach’s line drawings of the movements of the Flop.

Who Holds the World Record High Jump Now?

The world record high jump was set in 1993, by Cuban high jumper, Javier Sotomayor, at 8 feet, 1/2 inch (2.45 meters), the only jumper to have cleared eight feet.

Click here if you want to see a YouTube video of the high jump that still stands as the world record.

The event was held in Salamanca, Spain. You will see a sign, 2.45 (meters) announcing the height of the bar Sotomajor would attempt to clear.

After the jump, you will hear the announcer excitedly exclaim in Spanish, “Récord del Mundo!”

World Record.

It still stands.

Because someone decided to use his own strengths to compete.

What world records have fallen in your lifetime because of a new technique?

Did you ever compete in track and field?

Did you learn the Fosbury Flop? Did your children?

To you and sharing sports and stories with your grandchildren.

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Carol Covin, Granny-Guru