HUGE name in T&F gone - RIP - Richard Fosbury, '68 Olympic Champion - 76yo

[JAVMAN83]

Passed away Sunday while in Utah - was battling lymphoma.

While he was a generation older than me, I certainly understood his impact on the sport, not just with his revolutionary "Fosbury Flop" that is almost 100% in usage worldwide today, but also upon the sport. From everything I've read about him, he was a real gentleman. While he is universally recognized as the inventor of the technique, it must be noted that a slightly younger Debbie Brill (Canada, former indoor WR-holder) also developed the same technique in the mid-60s. With the advent of foam landing pits during that same era, the flop or "Brill Bend" became possible as previous landing surfaces were usually built-up sand/sawdust pits.

RIP Mr. Fosbury.

Edited: He was battling lymphoma, not leukemia as I originally posted.

 

[yj_runfan]

I remember my dad going off about how the flop was impossible when he was in school because of the landing pits. In my memory track & field was the premier sport in the Olympics back then. Fosbury was a huge star.

 

[JAVMAN83]

Note: When I first tried to post this thread, I used the shortened first name for Fosbury by which he's normally know - Di*k Fosbury. However, the software on that Yappi uses assumed his first name was a forbidden word. Default settings are always problematic.