Dick Fosbury: A Flop And A Gold Medallist

As noted in another entry in this compilation of the 101 Greatest Olympic Moments, the 1968 Mexico City Olympics saw a leap or two into the record books. One was incredibly long, thanks to the efforts of Bob Beamon who launched himself into Olympic history with his 8.91 metre sail into the men's long jump pit. However Beamon wasn't the only US field athlete to grab his particular event by the scruff of the neck and turn it into something new and revolutionary. The other was Richard 'Dick' Fosbury, a student at the University of Oregon who began the downfall of the old Olympic high jump routine of western and eastern rolls, scissors and straddle jumps with his eponymous "Fosbury Flop".

Dick Fosbury started his career as a high jumper without such revolutionary technical visions. In fifth grade at school Fosbury discovered through his own body shape that of all athletic events the high jump was perhaps the most apt for him, and starting with the scissor technique by the age of 16 he had changed to the straddle then back to scissors, with a backwards twist helping him hit 1.75 metres (5ft 10 in). Gradually changing his layout over the bar into an almost horizontal position, by 1965 and his senior year in high school the combination of the backward layout over the high jump bar had almost completed its evolution for Fosbury, taking him to a height of 1.98 metres. It was at a national junior's meet that he was signed by Oregon State University coach Berny Wagner, which formed the final link in Fosbury's development as a 'flopping' high jumper.

Toying briefly (at Wagner's suggestion) with a return to the straddle Fosbury convinced his coach that his "Fosbury Flop" was the way to higher jumps after the coach filmed for curiousity's sake the 19 year old using his own technique. In an unexpected fashion Fosbury easily cleared 1.95 metres (6ft 6in), climbing to a possible 2.1 metres whilst wearing a pair of plaid bermuda shorts. This ensured that Dick Fosbury would take the flop to the US Track and Field selection trials for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Meanwhile in Canada the female high jumper Debbie Brill had also discovered the results attainable from using a high jumping technique where the bar was passed backwards horizontally. The so-called "Brill Bend" may have been seen by Dick Fosbury whilst he was at OSU, however there is no evidence to show that either he nor Brill copied each other. The major difference between the two techniques was whereas the "Brill Bend" was recorded as early as 1966, the "Fosbury Flop" was the one which made the longest and most important impression at an Olympic Games, during the field program at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately for Debbie Brill she wasn't able to match the publicity (or the Olympic success) of Dick Fosbury's high jump style.

Dick Fosbury had to take his new jumping technique to another level as part of qualifying for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Requiring a jump of 2.17 metres (7 ft 3 in) to make the US team he did so, falling only five centimetres of then men's world record holder Valery Brumel (URS). Later Fosbury narrowed the gap to only 1 inch (2.54 centimetres). However Brumel was unable to respond to the challenge from the exciting new American high jumper, and was destined not to meet Fosbury in Mexico City. Three years earlier Brumel had been involved in a motorcycle accident which almost destroyed his right leg. With the Tokyo gold medallist and world record holder unable to participate in the 1968 high jump, the field was just that little bit more open.

Like so many times in the period 1952-1988, the main challengers for the gold medal in the men's high jump at Mexico City came down to a East versus West battle. The Soviets sent two well credentialled jumpers, Valentin Gavrilov of the Dynamo Moscow club and Valery Skvortsov who had jumped 2.17 metres at the 1968 European Indoor Championships. For the US there was Fosbury and his compatriot Edward Caruthers. Caruthers like Skvortsov had been in Tokyo four years earlier (where the American came 8th, the Soviet 14th), and like all bar Fosbury used more traditional methods of clearing the high jump bar. Also competing for the US was Reynaldo Brown; he, Fosbury and Caruthers had all cleared 2.17 metres at the trials, but it was Caruthers who had won that meet (Fosbury came third). As an added wrinkle to the story of Fosbury's qualification alongside Brown and Caruthers was his flunking out of OSU and expiration of his draft deferment (Fosbury evaded military service due to a congenital spinal problem). The rarefied air of Mexico City would see a remarkable high jump competition.

Surprisingly on the day of the final itself Dick Fosbury went barely challenged. From his first starting jump right up to 2.22 metres every first attempt by Fosbury was achieved. The Mexican spectators called out "Ole!" with every leap, gaining in volume as Fosbury leapt higher. Brown dropped out at 2.14 metres, whilst Skvortsov finished in fourth with a best jump only 2 centimetres higher. The final three were Gavrilov, Caruthers and Fosbury. Wearing 802 on his top Gavrilov tried to clear 2.22 metres, which would have kept him level with the two Americans. Unfortunately for the Soviet he failed, leaving Caruthers and Fosbury to battle out for the gold.

Propelled by a mixture of self-belief, crowd support, a remarkably successful new technique and awareness that with a failed jump Fosbury would give Caruthers an opprtunity to pass him, Dick Fosbury had the bar raised to 2.24 metres. As in most of his adult high jumping career as well as for every jump he had taken at the 1968 Summer Olympics Fosbury ran in a looping curve towards the bar for this last effort. Then at the last moment he shifted from an inward lean to an outward lean, his body pivoting and spinning so that his back was to the bar. Arcing upwards Fosbury carried himself over the bar, arching his back and angling himself 90 degress from the vertical. The jump was good, the bar stayed up and the "Fosbury Flop" had taken its first practitioner to an unassailable lead. Caruthers tried to match Dick Fosbury but couldn't, thus winning the silver. The gold medal and (perhaps just as historically important) the popular 'patent' on the radical style that made 2.24 metres possible was now and forever in Dick Fosbury's possession.



Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press 2004
• Wikipedia - Dick Fosbury Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury
• OSU Beavers Web Site: https://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=822479
• GBR Athletics Official Web Site - Soviet Championship Records: http://www.gbrathletics.com/nc/urs.htm
• International Olympic Committee - Official Web Site - Richard Fosbury High Jump Revolution: http://www.olympic.org/uk/news/olympic_news/full_story_uk.asp?id=2095
• Wikipedia - Valery Skvortsov Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeriy_Skvortsov
• Wikipedia - Fosbury Flop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosbury_Flop
• Sports Illustrated - Being Backwards Gets Results (10/2/1969): http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082073/2/index.htm
• Sports Illustrated - Triumph & Tragedy at Tahoe (23/9/1968): http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1081605/index.htm
• "The Official Report fo the 1968 Mexico City Olympics: Volume III Part 1" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1968/1968v3pt1.pdf)
• "The Olympic Series: Olympic Spirit" (Video), Twentieth Century Fox, 2003

Bob Beamon: The Event Destroyer

At every Olympic Games during the modern era there have been athletes who stamp their mark on their events imperiously, silencing critics and shrugging off rivals. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics for example, Florence Griffith Joyner was such a complete athlete that she was never chalenged over the 100 or 200 metres, and the US women's 4x100 metres relay team only had to hold their baton to win. In 1960 Herb Elliot ran the perfect 1500 metres, winning in such a style that the silver medallist from France, Michel said that "Elliot was from another planet". And then there was Jim Thorpe, attributed the accolade by King Gustav V as the greatest athlete in the world after obliterating the decathlon world record at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Yet none of them have soared as high and as long over their competitors nor over Olympic history as Bob Beamon, gold medallist at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in the long jump.

The Mexico City games, held during October 1968 were controversial both politically and environmentally. Ten days prior to the opening ceremony a massacre of students at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco area of Mexico City gave the IOC some pause in actually staging the games, but this was quickly resolved with the 1968 games starting as planned. Then, during the 200 metres medal presentation the Olympic champion Tommie Smith and bronze medallist John Carlos bowed their heads and made the Black Power salute, immediately receiving the wrath of the Avery Brundage-led IOC as well as the USOC. All the while there was the issue of Rhodesia's non-participation in the Olympics, as well as Czech displeasure at the Soviet suppression of the so-called "Prague Spring".

Concerns about the high altitude also made sure that much of the sporting perfromances were buried underneath distracting headlines. In one notorious incident Australian 10,000 metre world record holder Ron Clarke almost died when he collapsed after finishing his event, won by Neftali Temu in a time nearly two minutes outside Clarke's record. On the other hand, shorter distance track events benefited, with all men's world records for distances equal or lower to 400 metres being lowered in Mexico City. The 1968 Summer Olympic Games had a lot of controversy to shrug off if it was going to be remembered for pure athletic brilliance. Yet Bob Beamon made sure this historical mission was fulfilled, and in a way that could arguably be considered the greatest one sporting moment at any games.

Considered to be the favourite prior to the long jump in Mexico City, Beamon was up against three outstanding challengers. Lynn Davies of Great Britain was the gold medallist at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, whilst Ralph Boston (USA) had won silver behind Davies, then went on to hold the world record jump of 8.35 metres with Soviet long jumer Igor Ter-Ovanesyan. However one thing that Beamon possessed that none of his rivals did was explosive speed. Over 100 yards Beamon could run the distance in 9.5 seconds, and this was definitely an advantage in the rarefied air of the Estadio Olimpico Universitario in Mexico City.

Prior to the final however, Bob Beamon almost failed to qualify and have his chance for Olympic glory. Like his famous precessor Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games, Beamon was unable to set a qualifying distance until the last of his three initial jumps. Thanks to the advice of rival and mentor Ralph Boston Beamon adjusted his run up and with some ease set a qualifying mark. Set to begin the final round of jumping in fourth, Beamon was still challenged by Davies (twelfth), Ter-Ovanesyan (thirteenth) and Boston (seventeenth).

After a nervous night when he thought he destroyed all chance of an Olympic gold medal due to sexual intercourse, Friday October 18th 1968 began as a gloomy, rainy day. No one would have expected what was to follow, even Beamon wearing the number 254 on his track top, with such potentially adverse conditions. This was partially reinforced as the first three jumpers fouled their attempts. It was Beamon's turn.

Striding down the strip towards the takeoff board, Beamon's long powerful legs hurled him with great speed much like a 100 metre sprinter would hope to achieve. Then, landing perfectly and then launching from the takeoff board, Beamon soared through the thin Mexico City air, landed, frog jumped twice and then jogged with loose limbs from the pit. For Beamon it seemed a good jump, but his thoughts were of a distance around 27 feet 10 inches. Meanwhile Ralph Boston and Lynn Davies talked about the leap being over 28 feet, checking out the distance for themselves. The officals, struggling with the optical marker used for measuring the leap realised that the jump was too long for this instrument, and used an older steel tape to record the distance. Then, after a couple of tries the offical result was shown on the scoreboard. 8.90 metres, a full 55 centimetres beyond the previous world record.

Even at this point Beamon wasn't sure what he had done. It took friend and competitor Ralph Boston to come up and convert the metric figure into something Bob Beamon could understand; "Bob, you jumped 29 feet." Thereupon Beamon wondered what Boston would do or for that matter Davies from Great Britain or Ter-Ovaneysan from the USSR could achieve, but Boston capitulated. "It's over for me, I can't jump that far." Ter-Ovaneysan then spoke saying that "Compared to this jump, we are as children.", whilst Davies chimed in with "I can't go on. What is the point? We'll all look silly.". Turning to Beamon the Tokyo long jump gold medallist exclaimed "you have destroyed this event."

Yet the drama of the moment wasn't over yet. Having soared past the old world record, past 28 feet and into the region of further than 29 feet, Beamon's leap finally hit him and he collapsed in a cataplectic seizure after running to the crowd and his competitors with a broad smile on his face. Head buried in his hands, the new gold medallist and world record holder was helped to his feet by Boston and US team mate Charlie Mays, who suported him until the effects of the seizure passed.

The remaining jumps were inconsequential to the final result. Rain started just after Ter-Ovaneysan's first leap, and Beamon himself only made one more leap. Boston was able to jump long enough to win the bronze, whilst unheralded East German Klaus Beer took silver 71 centimetres behind Bob Beamon's leap. But the medal, the event and arguably the Mexico City Olympics themselves belonged to Bob Beamon. His long jump world record would hold for nearly 23 years, and in fact almost 40 years after that rainy October afternoon it still is on the books as the longest jump in Olympic history. As suggested earlier in this article, this one jump by one man at one Olympics can arguably be cited as the single most powerful and perfect moment in any Olympic event at any games.



Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press 2004
• "100 Greatest Olympians from 1896" by Jim Tracy, Savvas Publishing, 1983
• Bob Beamon article in Wikipedia
• "Australia and the Olympic Games" by Harry Gordon, UQP 1994