Home > High jump
The high jump is an athletics/ track and field event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights.1 History
Although the event was likely competed in as early as the ancient Greek Olympics, the first recorded high jump competition took place in Scotland in the early 19th century, with clearances of up to 5'6" measured. Early jumpers used either a straight on approach or a scissors technique. In the latter, the bar was approached on a diagonal, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the century, techniques began to modernize, starting with M.F. Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off as in the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, the Irish-American gained a more economic clearance and took the world record to 6'5-5/8" (1.97m) in 1895.
Another American, M.F. Horine, developed a yet more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine took the world standard to 6'7" (2.0m) in 1912. His technique predominated through the Berlin Olympics of 1936 where the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 6'9-3/4" (2.03m).
American and then Russian jumpers dominated the next four decades, which saw the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance to date. Straddle-jumper Charles Dumas broke the elusive 7' barrier in 1956, and American wunderkind John Thomas pushed the world mark to 7'3-3/4" (2.22m) in 1960. Valeri Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet jumper radically sped up his approach run, took the record up to 7'5-3/4" (2.28m), and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident foreshortened his career.
American coaches, including two-time NCAA champion Frank Costello of the University of Maryland, flocked to Russia to learn from Brumel and his coaches. It was back home however, at the University of Oregon, that a solitary innovator, Dick Fosbury, would bring the high jump into the next century. Taking advantage of the raised, softer landing areas by then in use, Fosbury added a new twist to the outmoded Eastern Cut-off. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old sawdust landing pits. After he used this Fosbury flop to win the 1968Events Undated Booker Prize for Fiction is established by Booker plc. 1968 is known as the year of the Prague Spring and also the year of the Paris riots. The ASCII character code is standardized as ANSI Standard X3. Nauru adopt his national anthem of the Olympic gold medal, the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions.
Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were: Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, 5'8" Franklin Jacobs, who cleared 7'7-1/2" (2.32m), an astounding two feet (0.59m) over his head; Chinese record-setters Ni-chi Chin and Zhu Jianhua; Germans Gerd Wessig and Dietmar Mögenburg; Swedish Olympic champion Patrik Sjöberg; and female jumpers Iolanda Balas of Romania, Italy's Sara Simeoni, and American Amy AcuffUnited States athlete Amy Acuff ( July 14, 1975-) was born in Port Arthur, Texas. An aggressive high jump competitor, Acuff competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics as a member of USA Track and Field and a three-time Olympian. Titles Amy Acuff lays claim to t.
2 Current status
At all but novice levels of competition, or where built-up landing areas are not available, the Fosbury Flop is now almost universally used. The current men's world record of 8'1" (2.45m) was set in 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic. by Cuba's Javier SotomayorJavier Sotomayor (born October 13, 1967) is a Cuban high jumper athlete. He was the 1997 World Champion high jumper and broke the world records for the high jump. His personal-best jump heights were 2. 45 meters (World record in July 23, 1993) and 2., while the women's world record holder is Stefka KostadinovaStefka Kostadinova (born March 25, 1965, Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is a famous Bulgarian athlete specialising in the high jump. She finished the Plovdiv Sports School in 1982 initially concentrating on gymnastics and swimming, to transfer later to atheltics. of Bulgaria. In the 2004 Olympics, Sweden's Stefan HolmStefan Holm (born May 25, 1976) is a Swedish high jumper and an olympic gold medalist. He won gold as the only one to jump 236 cm at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. His personal record in high jump is 237 cm (indoors 2004) and 236 cm (outdoors 2004). won the men's gold medal, and Russia's Yelena Slesarenko outjumped two-time world champion Hestria Cloete to win the women's title.
