Dick Fosbury died at the age of 76 on Sunday March 12. Olympic medalist at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, the athlete revolutionized the practice of the high jump.
Turning his back on conventions and his bars that he wants to cross at all costs. With his revolutionary technique, Dick Fosbury rises higher than his competitors. 2 meters 24, Olympic record as a bonus, for this 21-year-old American student, alone in the world, at the time of the Mexico City Olympics (Mexico) in 1968, to jump on his back. Other athletes prefer to wrap around the bar or scissor it. At first mocked for his unconventional style, Fosbury was quickly imitated by other athletes, even the Soviets.
A living legacy
Alexandre Boyon, sports journalist, explains: “The Soviets jumped belly and were Olympic champions in 60 and 64. Fosbury arrives, he invents his technique and suddenly everyone starts this technique, except the Soviets. (…) It will last until the end of the 70s and since the beginning of the 80s everyone has been jumping in this way.” Fosbury ended his career in 72 to take his engineering degree. Rarely has the name of an athlete been so associated with his discipline. He died on Sunday March 12 at the age of 76. , but his legacy lives on.
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