Dick Fosbury, the man who revamped the high jump discipline, died on Sunday at the age of 76, according to several media sources citing his agency.
Fosbury was 21 years old when he invented the Fosbury Flop, a high jump technique that entailed employing a curving run-up and leaping over the bar with the back arched. The Oregon State University student won gold in the Fosbury Flop technique at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that longtime friend and client Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully in his sleep early Sunday morning after a brief recurrence of lymphoma,” Ray Schulte, Fosbury’s agent, wrote on Instagram.
He went on to add: “The Track & Field legend is survived by his wife Robin Tomasi, and son Erich Fosbury, and stepdaughters Stephanie Thomas-Phipps of Hailey, Idaho, and Kristin Thompson.
A “Celebration of Life” is being planned by the family and will take place within the next few months. Details will be made available shortly. Dick will be greatly missed by friends and fans from around the world. A true legend, and friend of all!”
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Following his gold medal at the Olympics in Mexico City, the Fosbury Flop became so famous that by the next Olympics in Munich, 28 of the 40 participants were using it in competition. The Seoul Olympics in 1988 were the final edition of the Games to have a high jumper employing a method other than the Fosbury Flop.
“I thought that after I won the gold, one or two jumpers would start using it, but I never really contemplated that it would become the universal technique. Yet, it only took a generation,” Fosbury said in 2012.
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