“Looked like a fish flopping”: The quirky origins of an Olympic legend

Dick Fosbury’s Backward Jump Revolution at Mexico Olympics

In 1963, Dick Fosbury was the worst high jumper at Medford High School in Oregon.

He couldn’t clear five feet using old methods, so he tried something new. At a local meet, he leaned back and lifted his hips, jumping over the bar backward.

Within five years, this failed athlete shocked the world at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He won gold and set records while 80,000 fans chanted “Olé!”

Today, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado displays the very shoes that changed sports forever.

The Worst Jumper On His Team Couldn’t Clear Five Feet

Dick Fosbury really struggled with high jump as a teenager at Medford High School in Oregon. In 1963, he couldn’t even clear five feet using the straddle method everyone else used.

This tough technique made jumpers go over the bar face down while lifting their legs one at a time. Fosbury just couldn’t get his body to do this move right.

His life was tough too – his brother died in a car crash when he was 14, and his parents split up soon after. The track team became his safe place.

He tried the old scissors method but that didn’t work either. His coaches kept pushing him to use the straddle technique.

One Day In Grants Pass Changed Everything

During a meet on April 20, 1963, at Grants Pass, Oregon, Fosbury made a quick choice that changed track and field forever.

After failing again with the straddle, he lifted his hips higher and leaned backward over the bar.

On the bus ride there, he had planned to use the scissors method, but during his jumps, he started raising his hips higher as the bar went up.

By going over backward and kicking his legs up last, he cleared the bar easily. His heights shot up that day: 5’6″, then 5’8″, then 5’10”.

Coaches from other schools grabbed the rule book to check if his backward style broke any rules. It didn’t.

His Jump Heights Shot Up With The New Method

Using his backward style, Fosbury got better fast. He went from clearing just 5’4″ as a sophomore to jumping over 6’5½” by his senior year.

During his junior season, he jumped 6’3″ and broke his school record. As a senior, he took second place at Oregon state championships.

Most pits had wood chips, sawdust, or sand, making his head-first landing style very dangerous. His high school became the first in Oregon to get safer foam rubber landing pits during his junior year.

A Local Newspaper Gave His Jump A Catchy Name

The Medford Mail-Tribune ran a photo in 1964 with the caption “Fosbury Flops Over Bar.” The reporter wrote that he looked like “a fish flopping in a boat.”

Some papers were less nice, with one calling him the “World’s Laziest High Jumper.”

The name made sense in Medford, a town on Oregon’s Rogue River where fishing was popular and everyone knew what a flopping fish looked like. When first asked what to call his style, Fosbury called it a “back lay-out,” but journalists ignored it.

His College Coach Fought The New Method For A Year

After joining Oregon State University in 1965, Fosbury faced a new problem: his coach Berny Wagner.

Wagner thought Fosbury would jump higher using the western roll and made him practice the old style throughout his freshman year. The results were awful.

Fosbury jumped poorly, showed no pattern, and almost lost his scholarship while also having trouble with classes.

The fight ended during his sophomore year when Fosbury cleared 6’10” in his first meet of 1968, breaking the school record.

Coach Wagner came up to him after that jump and said, “That’s enough. That was the end of Plan A, on to Plan B. ” Wagner then began studying the technique.

Track Magazines Put The Weird Jumper On Their Covers

Fosbury made the cover of Track and Field News in February 1968 after clearing 7 feet for the first time, getting noticed by sports media across the country.

He kept winning, taking the 1968 NCAA indoor championship in March, tying the meet record of 7-0.

He also learned to adjust his takeoff spot as the bar got higher. He then won the outdoor NCAA championship in June, setting a new meet record of 7-2¼.

He kept working on his approach, creating a curved J-shaped run-up that boosted his speed while turning his hips.

Making The Olympic Team Wasn’t A Sure Thing

Fosbury won the U.S. Olympic trials in Los Angeles in June 1968, clearing 7’1″. But winning didn’t lock in his Olympic spot.

The U.S. Olympic Committee worried that results at sea level might not work in Mexico City’s high altitude. They set up a second trial in September at Echo Summit, California, where the height matched Mexico City’s thin air.

Fosbury cleared a personal best 7’3″ along with teammates Ed Caruthers and high school star Reynaldo Brown to get his Olympic spot.

Mexican Crowds Loved The Strange Backward Jumper

The high jump contest at the 1968 Olympics featured what Track and Field News called “the toughest field ever assembled to do battle for the Olympic title.”

The huge crowd of 80,000 at Estadio Olimpico got hooked on Fosbury’s odd style. They shouted “Olé” each time he cleared a height, just like for a skilled bullfighter.

Fosbury won over the fans completely, becoming the most liked athlete in the event. Even the normally quiet press section cheered his jumps.

He showed great consistency, clearing every height through 2. 22 meters (7’3⅜”) without missing once. When the bar reached 2. 18m, only five jumpers remained.

He Won Gold On His Final Attempt

At 2. 20m, only three jumpers stayed in: Fosbury, teammate Ed Caruthers, and Soviet jumper Valentin Gavrilov.

All three cleared on their first tries. At 2. 22m, Fosbury again cleared on his first jump while Caruthers needed two tries and Gavrilov missed all three, getting bronze.

Officials raised the bar to 2.24m (7’4¼”), a height only two men in the world had ever jumped over.

Fosbury missed his first two tries at this height but cleared on his third. Caruthers missed all three tries, giving Fosbury the Olympic gold medal.

The World Record Stayed Out Of Reach

Fosbury’s gold-medal jump of 2. 24 meters set both Olympic and American records, breaking John Thomas’s eight-year-old U.S. mark by half an inch.

American marathoner Kenny Moore had just entered the stadium after his race and started dancing when he saw Fosbury’s record-setting jump.

Fosbury tried the world record height of 2.29m three times but missed each attempt, leaving Soviet jumper Valery Brumel’s 1963 world record intact.

The award ceremony came last among all track and field events, with all three medalists waving to the crowd who responded with louder cheers than during any part of the competition.

Fosbury later described feeling “amazement and joy” after clearing the winning height in front of millions watching worldwide.

Everyone Copied His Style Within One Olympic Cycle

By the 1972 Munich Olympics, 28 of the 40 high jump competitors used the Fosbury Flop technique.

Fosbury himself expressed surprise at how quickly others adopted his method, saying he expected only one or two jumpers might try it after seeing his Olympic win.

The traditional straddle technique made its final Olympic appearance at Seoul in 1988, marking the complete shift to the flop.

Among the 36 Olympic medalists from 1972 through 2000, 34 used the Fosbury Flop.

Visiting U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum, Colorado

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum at 200 S Sierra Madre St in Colorado Springs showcases Dick Fosbury’s game-changing backward high jump technique that won him gold in 1968.

You can visit Thursday through Monday from 10am to 5pm for $19. 95 (adults) or $11.95 (kids 5-12). Colorado residents pay just $10 on Saturdays after 3pm with ID.

The museum only accepts Visa cards, no cash.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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