Legendary high jumper Dick Fosbury’s death: Before the Fosbury flop there was Quande Curl
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Dick Fosbury, the man who revolutionised the high jump, by using his unique technique to win gold at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, passed away at the age of 76 ‘after a short bout with a recurrence of lymphoma’. Fosbury went over the high jump bar backwards after arching his body. Fosbury’s technique was completely different from what high jumpers used back in the day – the straddle, the western roll, the scissor kick- all done with the jumper looking towards the landing area before landing.
Fosbury set the then Olympic record of 2.24 metres and within a year almost all jumpers had adopted his technique which came to be known as the Fosbury Flop.
However, a little known fact is that it was perhaps another jumper who first used a similar technique but he never really made it big s...