Dick Fosbury, Revolutionary High Jumper and Olympic Gold Medalist, Passes Away at 72

Legendary Olympic gold medalist and high jumper Dick Fosbury passed away on Sunday, March 7th, after a short battle with lymphoma. He was 72.

Fosbury is best remembered for revolutionizing the high jump event with his signature technique, the “Fosbury Flop”. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Fosbury took off at an angle, leaped backward, bent himself into a “J” shape to catapult his 6-foot-4 frame over the bar, then crashed headfirst into the landing pit. This unconventional move earned him the gold medal and set an Olympic record.

Prior to Fosbury’s technique, high jumpers would clear their heights by running parallel to the bar, then using a straddle kick to leap over before landing with their faces pointed downward. Fosbury’s “Fosbury Flop” changed the game, and he was the first to use the technique to break the Olympic and US records with a jump of 2.24 meters.

Fosbury won the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships in 1968 using the “flop” while attending Oregon State University. His success at the Olympics and collegiate level cemented his place in track and field history.

Fosbury’s publicist Ray Schulte shared the news of his passing on Instagram, writing “It is with a very heavy heart I have to release the news that longtime friend and client Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully in his sleep early Sunday morning after a short bout with a recurrence of lymphoma.”

Dick Fosbury will be remembered as a revolutionary athlete who changed the game of high jump forever.