Olympic high jumper Dick Fosbury died on Sunday after a battle with cancer ,
He was 76 years old.
Fosbury was first diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008. While he entered treatment a few years later, the cancer recently returned.
Fosbury is perhaps best known for his “Fosbury Flop”, a move that won him the gold medal at hte Olympics and completely changed the sport of the high jump. Fosbury ran at an angle to the bar and leaped headlong back, something that had not been done at the time. Instead, most jumpers ran parallel to the bar and jumped with a scissor kick.
Fosbury set a new Olympic record at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, when he cleared a bar of 2.24 meters with his “Fosbury Flop”, described at the time as “unorthodox but spectacular”. Was.
By the time the next Olympics were held in Munich in 1974, 70% of jumpers were using his technique – which is now common practice in the sport.
Fosbury was born in Portland, and attended college at Oregon State before making it to Team USA for his first and only Olympics in Mexico. He broke the then school record in the high jump at 6 feet, 10 inches as a sophomore with the Beavers and later won an NCAA title.
The school unveiled a statue in honor of Fosbury and his jump in 2018.