Who is...
It was in the 1968 Mexico Olympics that Dick Fosbury, a tousle-haired US college student, won high jump gold by reimagining the biomechanics of the sport. Until Fosbury, high jumpers typically cleared the bar facing forward with their legs straddling the bar and their body twisting after them. Fosbury instead led with his head, leapt backwards and arched his body, thus keeping his centre of gravity below the bar. Fifty-six years later, the Fosbury flop is now ubiquitous. Since it was popularised, the world record has gone from 2.28m to 2.45m. But that height hasn’t been bettered since 1993. Time for something new?
