Dick Fosbury, who won an Olympic gold medal with the ‘Fosbury Flop,’ dies at 76
Olympic high jumper Dick Fosbury died Sunday after a battle with cancer, according to the Associated Press.
He was 76.
Fosbury was first diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008. While he entered remission a few years later, the cancer returned recently.
Our sport lost a true legend and innovator today with the passing of Dick Fosbury.
He invented the “Fosbury Flop”, was a gold medalist at the 1968 Games, and remained an advocate for athletes his entire life. Fosbury’s legacy will live on for generations to come.
📸 USOPC pic.twitter.com/U1FWGV4NYB— USATF (@usatf) March 13, 2023
Fosbury is perhaps best known for his “Fosbury Flop,” a move that won him a gold medal at the Olympics and changed the sport of high jumping altogether. Fosbury ran toward the bar at an angle and jumped over it backward head-first, something that wasn’t done at the time. Instead, most jumpers ran parallel to the bar and jumped over with a scissor kick.
Fosbury set an Olympics record in the 1968 Games in Mexico City where he cleared a bar set at 2.24 meters with his “Fosbury Flop,” which was described at the time as “unorthodox but spectacular.”
Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the high jump with his "back-first" technique, has died at 76.
His "Fosbury Flop" earned him gold in 1968. pic.twitter.com/qOxktjD0sR— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) March 13, 2023
By the time the next Olympics were held in Munich in 1974, 70% of jumpers were using his technique, which is now commonplace in the sport.
Fosbury was born in Portland, Oregon, and attended college at Oregon State before making it onto Team USA for his first and only Olympics in Mexico. He broke the then-school record after clearing 6 feet, 10 inches in the high jump as a sophomore with the Beavers, and later won an NCAA title.
Fosbury Flop.
@BeaverAthletics great Dick Fosbury gets his statue unveiled on campus. pic.twitter.com/nfdarTfnh5— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 19, 2018
The school unveiled a statue honoring Fosbury and his jump in 2018.