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Olympic high jump champion Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the event with a completely different jumping technique that was eventually named after him, died Sunday at the age of 76, his agent Ray Schulte said Friday.
Fosbury won gold for the U.S. in the high jump at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where the six-foot-four athlete jumped headfirst to clear the bar, a technique now called the “Fosbury Flop” and used by all high jumpers today.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that my friend and longtime client Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday morning after a relapse of lymphoma,” Schulte wrote on Instagram.
The lanky leaper died Sunday after a relapse with lymphoma.
Before Fosbury, high jumpers cleared their height by running parallel to the bar, then jumping with a scissor kick, with their face pointing down.
Fosbury cleared 2.24 meters to set an Olympic record. In the next Olympics, 28 out of 40 jumpers used the Fosbury technique.
Fosbury began tinkering with the new technique as a teenager at Medford High School in Oregon. Among his discoveries over the years was the need to move the takeoff point back for higher jumps. Most jumpers plant their feet and take off in the same place regardless of height.
Fosbury’s technique took some time to catch on. The term “Fosbury Flop” is credited to the Medford Mail-Tribune, which ran the headline “Fosbury Flops Over the Bar” after one of their high school encounters. Today’s reporter wrote that Fosbury looks like a fish flopping in a boat.
‘Changed all events forever’
“The legend of the world is probably used too often,” said sprint great Michael Johnson. “Dick Fosbury is a true LEGEND! He changed entire events forever with a technique that seemed crazy at the time, but the result became the standard.”
“Yesterday, one of the most famous figures in the high jump died,” said Amelie Oudea-Castera, France’s Minister of Sports and the Olympics and Paralympics.
“Dick Fosbury has revolutionized the practice of this sport with sublime audacity. Thoughts for loved ones.”
Fosbury’s gold and contributions to the sport also earned him a spot in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
She is survived by her husband Robin Tomasi, son Erich Fosbury and stepdaughters Stephanie Thomas-Phipps and Kristin Thompson.
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