Science & discovery
The 1968 Olympics changed how we jump
11 min
Dick Fosbury’s 'flop' was initially mocked as a dangerous accident until it used center-of-mass physics to revolutionize the high jump. This story explores how biomechanics and a single outlier can force an entire global sport to rewrite its fundamental movement patterns.
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Show notes
Dick Fosbury developed his backward jumping style because he lacked the coordination for the traditional straddle technique.
The Fosbury Flop allows an athlete's center of gravity to pass underneath the bar while their body goes over.
Synthetic foam mats were essential for the flop to replace dangerous sand and sawdust landing pits.
Fosbury won gold in nineteen sixty-eight with an Olympic record of two point twenty-four meters.
The J-curve approach uses centrifugal force to convert horizontal speed into vertical lift and rotation.
By the nineteen eighty Moscow Games every high jump finalist had adopted the Fosbury Flop technique.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Era of the Straddle2 min
- 3The Physics of the Flop3 min
- 4Mexico City nineteen sixty-eight2 min
- 5The Total Extinction of the Straddle2 min
- 6Outro1 min
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