The changing of a sport
 

Mentioned in the bikini bottoms thread...a track & field technique that changed the Olympics forever. From Oregon State University track to Olympic Gold in 1968.
Dick Fosbury!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9yzHEx2qcU

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I remember when that happened.
Nice seeing him in an interview.

I think of this often. Growing up in the early 70s, a neighbor's dad built a backyard high jump. We used old mattresses and sleeping bags as the landing pad. We spent a whole summer trying to learn the Fosbury flop. Probably lucky I didn't break my neck.

I find it pretty amazing when a new technique becomes so universally adopted that the old ways become completely obsolete. No one will ever attempt the high jump with a scissor kick ever again.

All sports constantly evolve. We'll never see an underhand free throw in an NBA game either. But I think few sport evolutions have been as dramatic and tied to a single moment in time as what Dick Fosbury did.

I guess there's always someone in history that has to eat the first oyster.

We used a sawdust pit covered by a tarp in high school.

I so admire Track and Field athletes. It is a pure form of competition, uncomplicated.

I'd have loved to have been there when Fosbury decides, watch me do this.

My son ran well in CC as well as mid distances in Track and Field. I could not have been more proud.

I needed to throw or hit something to be good at sports:cool:

If I could have mastered the fosbury flop back in 1982/1983, I would have competed at State competition level for our high school. I think the school record still stands at 6'5", and many years, that would have won the State competition.

At 5'10", I had a measured vertical jump of 39" which equates me to touching the 10' tall basketball rim on my mid wrist. I was able to clear 6'0" several times, but as the couches watched me, I had no back arch, which would have gained me about 6".

If only I had applied myself to get better!

Seems so obvious when you see It.