Over the years athletic techniques have changed greatly. The way the high jump is executed today is the most dramatic example.
Using the old way of high jumping, the jumper ran up to the crossbar and leaped up on his inside foot. The jumper would roll his body over the bar face down and parallel to it, then land on his hands and knees in the sawdust.
By the time the 1968 Olympics arrived, the sawdust had been replaced by an air bag. Landing after a jump was a great deal softer and easier. An American high jumper named Dick Fosbury took advantage of the inflated bag to introduce a new method of high jumping.
After Fosbury took his running start toward the bar, he leaped up on his outside foot. He turned his back to the bar and went over it headfirst, landing on his shoulder blades. Had he landed on the sawdust, he might have suffered a severe injury, but the inflated air bag cushioned his fall just fine.
Fosbury leaped 7 feet 4 1/2 inches, breaking the Olympic record. Today all high jumpers use the Fosbury Flop.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury
Seems Fosbury started developing his technique when he was in high school and they had made the switch from sawdust to foam rubber. He had one coach in college who kept trying to get him off the flop, but after Fosbury shattered the school record at his first meet, his coach let him do his thing.
what a coinkadink…i started developing his technique in high school too!
So, we should be calling it the Farscythe Flop then. Still has a nice ring to it.
it does have a nice ring lol
but nah…i was about 30 years too late for claiming credit
sides…ive already trademarked the farscy flop…. it was me tripping over the backdoor step and faceplanting…..every time i need to explain my injuries at work its something stupid like that
i missed two months of work coz i tried to take the bin out… forgot about the step out of my backyard…tore a muscle in my shoulder…and the bin emptied most of itself on top of me…..
See Also: Dominik Hasek
Good demonstration of the older styles.