“Fearless Fosbury is a 21-year-old senior at Oregon State University with a major in civil engineering, two bad feet, a worn-out body, an unbelievable style of high-jumping head first on his back, a habit of talking to himself in midair (...)” - NY Times, Oct 20th, 1968.
In the 1960s he was an unremarkable (kid)
athlete who preferred the scissors jumping
style.
His coach would force him to use the then-
popular straddle technique.
He couldn’t have jumped more than 1.62m.
Then, when he was 16 he started scissoring again and he cleared
1.77m.
He adapted the scissors style with a twist at the
last moment before jumping.
This way he jumped 2.0m and won a national
junior championship.
He got it right and headed to Olympics in
Mexico City.
A crowded stadium, quiet spectators and an awkward movement.