Dick Fosbury, the US athlete who completely revamped the technical discipline of high jump and won an Olympic gold medal with his “Fosbury flop”, has died aged 76.
Fosbury died on Sunday after a recurrence of lymphoma, according to his publicist, Ray Schulte.
Before Fosbury, high jumpers cleared their heights by running parallel to the bar, then leaping over with a scissor kick, often with their faces pointed downward.
At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Fosbury took off at an angle, leapt backward, bent himself into a “J” shape to catapult his 193-centimetre frame over the bar, then landed head-first on the mat.
Fosbury cleared 2.24 metres to win the gold and set an Olympic record.
