Athletics - 2016 School Games LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY 1-4 SEPTEMBER 2016 2016 School Games Athletics Quick Fire Athletics has been part of both the Olympic and Paralympic Games since their inceptions. At the 2016 School Games, competitors will take to the track and field over a series of running, jumping and throwing disciplines for what promises to be an action packed sports programme. Events Please see below for approximate more Event Details Please see below for approximate starting times for the various athletics events. Doors open at 10:00am.

10:30am – Hammer, Boys 11:35am – Ambulant Shot, Boys / Girls 11:40am – Hammer, Girls 1.45pm – Seated Discus, Boys / Girls 1.50pm – Triple Jump, Boys 2.55pm – Ambulant Discus, Boys / Girls 3.00pm – 200m Ambulant, Boys 4.00pm – 800m Wheelchair Combined, Boys / Girls 4.05pm – Pole Vault, Boys 4.40pm – Seated Shot, Boys / Girls 4.45pm – 400m Ambulant, Boys 5.15pm – Ambulant Long Jump, Boys / Girls 5.30pm – Discus, Girls 5.30pm – 4 x 100m, Girls 5.35pm – Shot, Boys 5.45pm – 4 x 100m, Boys 5.55pm – 4 x 300m, Girls 6.05pm – 4 x 400m,

 Boys *Card subject to change (Friday) 10:30 am - 7:30 pm GMT Location For any sports related enquiries please contact Karen Forbes at British Athletics Why should you watch this Athletics forms the fundamental basis and skills for participating in many other sports.

If you look carefully, you will see similar motions and techniques that are adopted in many of the events that make up athletics being practised in sports like golf, tennis, hockey, football and rugby. Over 350 athletes will compete at the Games as part of seven teams representing Northern Ireland and Scotland, with England represented by the Midlands, North East, North West, South East and South West. This inclusive format also features 20 disability events across the 58 event programme. Did you know…? Hammer Throw: Legend traces the concept of the hammer throw to approximately 2000BC where the Celtic warrior Culchulainn gripped a chariot wheel by its axle, whirled it around his head and threw it a huge distance. Shot Put: A version of the modern form of the discipline can be traced to the Highland Games in Scotland during the 19th century where competitors threw a rounded cube, stone or metal weight from behind a line. High Jump: Eastern Cut-off, Western Roll, Straddle and Fosbury Flop are all names of techniques used in the high jump.

Triple Jump: When Great Britain’s Jonathan Edwards set the current world record of 18.29m to win at the 1995 IAAF World Championships, he jumped a distance in excess of the width of a football penalty box. 400m: One of the original events at the Ancient Olympics was the ‘diaulos’, a race around two marks on a course roughly equivalent to the current 400m. 400m Hurdles: The first 440-yard hurdles race was staged in Oxford, England, circa 1860. Competitors had to tackle 12 huge (100cm) wooden barriers that were sunk into the ground How it Works The School Games is positioned as a high-level competition opportunity for athletes participating in the under 17 (& U20 for disability) age group. With strong links to the existing schools athletics competition pathway, the event is in place to provide young athletes with the experience of a multi-sport competition environment. Performances in school based athletics competitions remain the primary method of selection for athletes competing in the 2016 School Games.

However due to the nature of the sport, athlete selection will also be made based on performance in other major events and the Power of 10 rankings system. This approach allows the best athletes to enjoy the 2016 School Games experience, whilst giving any young athlete at school the opportunity to qualify. To view the 2016 selection policy please click here . Designated Athlete Mentor – Niall Flannery. Please click here for more information. SPORTS Back to Straddle: The Fosbury Flop Revolution martes, 6 de marzo de 2012 The Fosbury Flop Revolution Nowadays we expect to see in high jump contests every competitor making a backwards takeoff in order to clear the bar. Every athlete uses this standard technique known as “Fosbury Flop” and it is the one every kid is taught at the athletic clubs. It seems it must have been like this since the dawn of humanity but it is not. Since the Olympic Games were restored back in 1896 we assisted to a succession of jumping styles: Scissors, Eastern cutt-off, Western roll, Straddle… The last one had been the dominant technique for nearly three decades.

In the straddle or belly jump, the athlete clears the bar face-down, with the body stretched along the bar, relying in a fast run-up and a powerful lift of the outer leg. Especially the Soviet Union school got to master this intricate style, thanks to the knowledge of national coach Vladimir Dyachkov, who had studied films of the best high jumpers in the world for many years and incorporated for his own athletes every advantageous element which had been used during the 40s and the 50s, as for example to move the arms into backward position in the last steps of the approach, then threw them strongly forward and upward during the takeoff phase, accompanying it with a straight lead-leg kick. (1) Yuri Stepanov, using Dyachkov’s “dive straddle” broke the world record in 1957 and, in the following years, Robert Chavlakadze and Valery Brumel won the gold medal at the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games respectively, upsetting American favourite John Thomas.

Brumel was the ultimate straddle performer, thanks to his elaborated technique and a superior speed and strength, raising the world record to a more than respectable 2.28 height, on a dirt track and landing on a sawdust pit. However the only inconvenient was this elegant technique took many years of physical and mental practice to achieve it. Dive straddle was perfection and not every jumper could handle such complicated execution. Richard Douglas “Dick” Fosbury was one of those athletes who had real troubles to dominate the standard jumping style of his time. Fosbury, born in Portland , Oregon , the 6th March 1947 was a lanky kid eager to make a name through sport or whatever activity. (2) Attending high school in Medford , he tried basketball and football without luck then turned to the track. Being 1,95m tall, high jump could be a good choice. Dick adopted the scissors style, jumping 5’ 4” (1,62m), but it was outdated ages ago and his coach Dean Benson endeavoured to teach him the straddle with little success.

Maybe after all Fosbury had no especial talent and had to become another average man living an average life lost in the anonymous crowd of a big town. Yet he was all but a gregarious man. One of his High school team mates remembers "when everyone else would be joining a group, he would be off doing something on his own.” (3) Fosbury was independent and imaginative. If he could not find his way through tradition he would not have any problem in trying something different and it was what he did in a May afternoon of 1963, when Benson eventually relinquished in the penultimate meeting of the season. The Medford sophomore reverted to scissors, relieved to clear again 5’ 4” . Anyway, has not been Iolanda Balas dominating so overwhelmingly the women's event for so many years with a scissors technique? However, when the bar was up to more challenging heights something unusual happened. Aiming to overcome the bar, Fosbury instinctively started to arch backwards while taking off, as in the Eastern cut-off, and at the same time lifting his hips up so his shoulders dropped in reaction.

Reclining his body even more as the bar was being raised higher, he eventually was completely flat on his back as he overcame 5’ 10” (1,78m). He had improved 16cm in a single day. “It was a total shock to everybody including myself," was quoted Fosbury. (3) In Dick’s junior and senior years his style evolved. He adopted a curved approach and instead of lying back from the scissors position, he went backward from the point of takeoff, going over the bar at a 45-degree angle leading with his shoulders, then at an ideal 90-degree one, clearing head-first. After ending high school winning the national junior championship with 6’ (2,01m), Berny Wagner, new coach of Oregon , showed interest in him and he joined the establishment for an engineering career.

Debbie Brill, the woman who pioneered modern high jumping Meanwhile in nearby Haney, a small town close to Vancouver , Canada , a 12-year-old country girl called Debbie Brill had arrived on her own, without ever hearing of Fosbury to the same jumping style, which was known by her coach Lionel Pugh as “Brill Bend.”(4) Understandably she was in shock when a friend told her he had seen someone else jumping her way. Debbie had grown in a natural environment which she loved. She had contributed with her parents and siblings to the build up of a wood house in Karnaka Creek, where they could swim and take boat rides seeking for beavers. And there were also cedar and hemlock trees which she liked to climb up and watch everything from there. "It is like living in the Wild West. I like things as they were in the old days. They seem more beautiful that way." (5) And as naturally as climbing trees she started jumping, at the scissors style, because she could not dominate straddle just like Fosbury, evolving quickly to the Brill Bend.

The main difference seemed to be, instead of a curved approach, Debbie used to do a straight run-up, almost as straddlers, but with an unbelievable twist in the process. Little sister Corinne was bending with her but she did not make a career of it. The difference was Brill’s aggressiveness: while Corinne was playing with dolls her elder sister was doing so with trucks and beating up boys. (5) This simultaneous invention of a style for two teens who did not know each other, and furthermore the almost instinctive way it happened makes it wonder if there was really an invention at all. Both Fosbury and Brill evolved naturally from old scissor technique. Debbie only realised she was doing something different when someone pointed it out to her. Dick said he had never planned the progressive changes he was doing in his style. He did not find any motivation in jumping in training, without contenders or an enthusiastic crowd so he never did. Even in Mexico City , his coach had to ask him to practise at least once, because they came to the Olympics one month in advance and he was getting rusty, just passing his time having fun with fellow-javelin man Gary Stenlund.

(3) Just jumping in competition had sense for Fosbury and it was the pressure of the challengers and the motivation of reaching new heights which made evolve Dick’s technique “inside of him”. In front of the scientific straddle method, Fosbury and Brill’s style seems the natural way of jumping and as such there were several precedents of it in track and field. Bruce Quande from Flathead County , Montana , had reportedly done it in 1959 but that kid lacked the determination and focus of Fosbury to go ahead with it. Also many years before, back in the 30s, several athletes, especially in Germany, had tried to jump backwards but at the time rules forbade to clear the bar head-first. Anyway, a sand or sawdust pit did not really encourage such kind of jumping, in which you would have risked your back or your neck. The newly introduced in the time of Brill and Fosbury foam-rubber mats would allow further development of the backward jumping.

There was also the amazing case of tumbler Dickie Browning, who in 1954 went over 7ft 2in (2,18m), which was superior to the then existing world record, through the acrobatic combination of cartwheels, flip-flops and a back flip over the bar. His feat was not homologated by the IAAF, because of a two-foot takeoff but nevertheless it was included in the Guinness Book of Records. (6) (7) If we acknowledge the fact gymnasts usually execute backward somersaults in order to gain height we can understand how optimal Fosbury and Brill techniques are for track and field high jumping. Valery Brumel , for many the most talented high jumper in the history of the event Nonetheless spectators, journalists, coaches and other athletes were not really impressed by the innovative jumping techniques of teens Dick Fosbury and Debbie Brill. The Canadian girl went to compete to Norway in 1968, before the Olympic Games.

She was so touched because Scandinavian landscapes remembered her home but her lovely trip ended up in an unfortunate memory when 8000 spectators roared with laughter as she started to do her bend, so she underperformed badly. Similar kind of experiences suffered Fosbury who more than one labelled as a snob. Fosbury was gaining attention, but more as a novelty than as the next new thing. In 1964 a photographer captured this craziness, and the shot went around the world, Des Moines to Johannesburg . WORLD'S LAZIEST HIGH JUMPER was the caption in one newspaper. A better caption, appearing under a staff photo in the Medford Mail-Tribune, was FOSBURY FLOPS OVER THE BAR. A reporter returned to the phrase in a meet story, saying Fosbury looked like nothing more than a fish flopping into a boat. The Fosbury Flop was born. (2) Again Berny Wagner, his coach in Oregon State University tried just like Dean Benson to make become his new charge “a true jumper,” telling him to abandon his crazy flop to learn the only valid jumping technique: straddle.

An obedient Fosbury, who anyway did not want to be laughed again, embraced the style of Olympic champion Brumel with the result he went back from 6’ 6’ 10” (2,08m). By then he was gaining renown for his style and many promoters invited him to their meetings. They did not care how high he jumped, just how much hype he could generate. And the press loved it. A prove of it a Los Angeles Times headline: BEAVER PHYSICS STUDENT TO SHOW UNUSUAL JUMPING FORM TODAY. Some said Fosbury’s performance was as exciting as a triple somersault off a flying trapeze without a safety net. (2) Notwithstanding in his junior year the jumper started to be accepted when he became the most consistent 7ft (2,13m) performer of the country. That 1968 year Fosbury won the NCAA, also the senior championships and eventually qualified for the Olympic Games in a contest in Lake Tahoe where all three men who booked their ticket for Mexico , Ed Caruthers, Reynaldo Brown and Fosbury improved their PBs to 7’ 3” (2,21m).

The Mexico Olympic Games high jump final became a clash between those three Americans and Soviet Union representatives Valery Skvortsov and Valentin Gavrilov, who held the honour of their country in the absence of defending champion Valery Brumel, who could not recover from a motorcycle accident. Fosbury had often proved the more demanding the competition the more outstanding his performance was. In Mexico City the flop jumper delivered his most accomplished display of jumping ever, clearing every height until 2,22m in his first attempt. By then Gavrilov had been eliminated and the veteran Caruthers was the only other man in contention. With the bar raised to 2,24m, Fosbury won the final in his third try, achieving a new Olympic record. A legend was born. Dick Fosbury had not broken Valery Brumel’s world record but his amazing victory in Mexico , broadcasted by TV to every corner of the world served as a perfect showcase for his jumping style. The day after Dick’s triumph every athlete tried the Fosbury Flop. However, not everybody was converted.

Very technical jumpers, which main quality was strength, stuck in the straddle, while others faster and more flexible than strong adopted the Fosbury Flop. While there was a division among the jumping elite, College kids all found fascinating Fosbury’s backward technique, which caused abundant complaints from fathers and public in general, arguing there furniture was being ruined and also they had a justified fear their sons and daughters were going to break their necks trying the new fashion. (8) They did not. Fosbury was out of shape and did not qualify for Munich Olympic Games. He would retire soon afterwards. He may not be considered the best jumper in history but without a doubt he has largely become the most influential. Usually we expect a technical innovation in sport to be the result of a thorough investigation of laboratories or a renowned coach. This time around was just the spontaneous innovation of an inspired teen, just an up-and-coming athlete using his genius and instinct of survival to keep him alive in a track and field contest. This is the biggest merit of this high jump revolution. On the other hand, Debbie Brill took part still a junior athlete at her first Olympic Games in Munich 1972.

Surprisingly the winner was another jumper still more precocious than her, West German Ulrike Meyfarth, who became the youngest gold medallist in track and field in the history of the Olympics with 16 years and 4 months of age. Meyfarth practised the Fosbury Flop in that final to beat straddle specialists Ilona Gusenbauer and Yordanka Blagoeva, also matching the Austrian athlete’s 1,92m world record, which had eventually broken the universal best of Iolanda Balas. Ulrike Meyfarth adopted Fosbury’s style but adding the new element of the single drive arm, instead of keeping her limbs flat parallel to the body like Dick. The creator of the modern jumping technique acknowledges this innovation, use of single arm or two-arm drive, along with the strategy of throwing the jumper’s head back to get a more extreme back arch, as the main improvements in the Fosbury Flop after his retirement.

(9) Elsewhere, Yuri Tarmac recovered back the male title for Russia Watch Ulrike Meyfarth vs Ilona Gusenbauer here In Montreal there was a draw between the two schools of jumping but this time around Fosbury Flop took over the men’s competition, thanks to Polish Jacek Wszola, who upset Dwight Stones, the first record holder of the new style. Meanwhile, with Ulrike Meyfarth experiencing a long crisis of results, the female title went to straddler Rosemarie Ackermann from East Germany . The Soviet Bloc countries were the ones keeping tradition alive and from the foremost straddle powerhouse, the USSR , rose to fame an amazing youngster named Vladimir Yashchenko who refused to be taught in the Fosbury style, arguing his idol had always been Valery Brumel. (10) Dyachkov was called to form the hopeful jumper and the old master was in awe watching the capacity of his new charge, who was able to bring to perfection at 18 years of age, such intricate style as the straddle is.

When the battle seemed largely won by backward jumpers, Volodya won the European championships and set in 1978, still being a junior athlete, world records both indoors (2,35m) and out (2,34m). Thus, with Rosie Ackermann as the first female over 2 metres the precedent year, straddle had recovered the records in both sex categories. Yashchenko was predestined to become the first man over 2,40m, but an injury forced him to retire from athletics even before reaching the age of a senior athlete and he would die at 40 a victim of cirrhosis. Fatality had finished up with his high hopes as it did with Valery Brumel's before. Can you imagine what a match between Fosbury and Brumel in Mexico could have been? With Yashshenko’s untimely retirement straddle lost its last hope. In Moscow Olympic Games, there were only half-a-dozen of survivors, against the overwhelming majority of Fosbury Flop practitioners. Wszola took Volodya’s record and Gerd Wessig improved it at the Olympics getting the better of the Polish.

In the female category, Sara Simeoni, who had got the world record as well, won the title. Ackermann, out of the medals, said also goodbye to the athletic world. On the other hand, Debbie Brill, who had won the World Cup in 1979 and was in her best shape ever, lost her best chance of an Olympic medal, after Canada boycotted the Games. She would still break the world indoor record two years afterwards, flying to 1,99m and would compete in Los Angeles-84, where she ended up a praiseworthy 5th in a contest won by a reborn Ulrike Meyfarth. Only Taiwanese Liu Chin-Chiang used the straddle style in those Games. Some argue Fosbury Flop is a more efficient jumping technique but, 30 years after straddle disappeared, the current world record from the men’s (Sotomayor’s 2,45m) is just 10cm more than what Yashchenko achieved being 18, and the women’s (Kostadinova’s 2,09m) is just 9 centimetres better than the straddle best of Ackermann.

Furthermore, they had not been beaten in 19 and 25 years respectively. Fosbury Flop triumphed because of its simplicity; it was easier to be taught and accessible for all kind of athletes. Nowadays, there is no coach left with the knowledge to form in the straddle technique those jumpers whose characteristics would make them optimal standard bearers of it. (11) Current high jumping remains standardised, without evolution and technically poorer than it used to be some decades ago. The IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011: Beautiful and precise event, the High jump 2011년 6월 17일 금요일 Beautiful and precise event, the High jump The purpose of this event is jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices. Long and slim athletes’ jumping moment is the most beautiful scene among many athletic movements. The high jump is sophisticated and difficult event as much as graceful. Approach skill developed continuously to various types like scissors-jump, western roll, straddle and Fosbury flop technique. Scissors is literally to jump in front of the bar and crossing two legs like scissors.

By this technique, American Jumper Sweeney jumped 1.97m in 1895. In western roll style, jumper approach bar on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Cornelius Johnson used this technique and won the event at 2.03m in the Berlin Olympics 1936. Straddle jumpers took off as in the western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Russian jumper Valeriy Brumel won gold medal as jumped over 2.28m in the Tokyo Olympics 1964. Fosbury is the name of American jumper who invented new jumping skill. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely broken his neck in landing pits. He used this Fosbury flop in Mexico Olympics 1968 and won the gold medal and the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions.

The current men’s record holder is Javier Sotomayor from Cuba with a jump of 2.45m set in 1993 and Stefka Kostadinova from Bulgaria is the women’s world record holder at 2.09m. The final match of high jump in World Championships in athletics will hold on Sep 1 for men’s and Sep 3 for women’s. 작성자: Hungarian Olympic Triumph: 1960 Rome Hungarian Olympic Triumph! by Bryan Dawson Did you know...as of 2016, Hungary ranks 8th in the world in medals at the Summer Olympic Games despite its being torn apart after WWI and losing half her population and 2/3 of her territory. This does not include an additional 6 medals won in the Winter Olympics nor the Hungarians that won medals as nationals of other countries after borders were redrawn or after large-scale emigration. founding member of the International Olympic Committee. The beginnings of the Olympic movement in Hungary go back further than the Games in Athens.

Ferenc Kemeny , a great pacifist and member of the International Peace Bureau, was one of Pierre de Coubertin's first kindred spirits, with whom he struck up a friendship in the 1880's. Kemeny took an active part in the Congress for the re-establishment of the Games held in Paris in 1894 and was one of the founding members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Coubertin supported Kemeny's suggestion to hold the first Olympics in Budapest in 1896 in honor of Hungary's 1000 years of statehood. While the dream of hosting an Olympics is not yet realized, Hungary has won more Olympic medals than any other nation that has never hosted the Games. Hungary in the Olympics - Select a Year: Sections: Hungary takes home 13 Gold, 16 Silver, and 37 Bronze! Men's Fencing Team Hungary wins 9th Gold! Fencing Legend Gerevich Aladar wins RECORD 6th consecutive Gold! A feat not matched until Sydney 2000 Fencing Great, Kovacs Pal, wins 7th Medal (6th Gold)!

Another Fencing Great, Karpati Rudolf, wins 6th Gold! Water polo legend Dezso Gyarmati wins an unprecendented 5th medal at his fifth consecutive Olympics! 1948 , 1952 , 1956 , 1960 Legendary High Jumper Iolanda Balas takes Gold! (Competing for Rumania) Wrestler Polyak Imre sets Olympic Record with 3rd consecutive Silver! Men's Soccer Team Hungary takes Bronze Hungarian Medals!

Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu C-1 1,000 m Török Gyula Boxing / ökölvívás légsúly 51 kg Kárpáti Rudolf Individual Fencing / vívás kard egyéni Delneky Gábor Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Gerevich Aladár Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Horváth Zoltán Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Kárpáti Rudolf Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Kovács Pál Ádám Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Mendelényi Tamás Team Fencing / vívás kard csapat Németh Ferenc Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat Juhász Katalin Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat Marvalics Györgyi Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat Nyári Magdolna Team Fencing / vívás tőr csapat Rejtő Ildikó Team Fencing / vívás tő

r csapat Mészáros György Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 1,000 m Szente András Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 1,000 m Szöllősi Imre Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-1 1,000 m Kemecsey Imre Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 4x500m Mészáros György Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 4x500m Szente András Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 4x500m Szöllősi Imre Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-4 4x500m Kulcsár Gergely Weightlifting / súlyemelés váltósúly 75 kg Rózsavölgyi István Track and Field / atlétika 1500 m Egresi Vilma Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 500 m

 Bánfalvi Klára Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu K-2 500 m Farkas Imre Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu C-2 1,000 m Törő András Kayak Canoe / kajak-kenu C-2 1,000 m Antal Róbert Dunai I.

János (Dujmov János) Soccer / Labdarugás Search all 1960 medalists (in Hungarian) Featured Olympians (b. 12/12/1936 Transylvania) She dominated like no other... Iolanda Balas (Balázs Jolán) completely dominated women's high jumping between 1957 and 1967. Balas, a Rumanian citizen of Hungarian origin born in Transylvania in 1936 (the former Hungarian region transferred to Rumania after World War I at the Treaty of Trianon ), was married to her coach and fellow high jumper Janos Sőtér (Ion Soeter) who died in 1987. Iolanda Balas occupies a special niche in athletics history, a class apart. For a whole decade she went unbeaten winning an incredible 140 consecutive competitions and breaking the world record 14 times, mostly her own. Her 1961 record of 1.91 metres remained unbeaten for ten years.

She captured Olympic titles in 1960 and 1964 by huge margins, and such was her supremacy that at the time she cleared 1.91m, no other woman had gone higher than 1.78m. Some of her luckless contemporaries complained that they had no chance against her because she was so very tall (1.85m, or nearly 6ft 1in) with particularly long legs even for that height. But that physical advantage was largely cancelled out by her inability to master the more efficient straddle and western roll techniques of the pre-Fosbury Flop era. She explained: "My style is quite obsolete but it suits my body structure." She is now a leading international official. Read more at the International Association of Athletics Federations or at the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Heroes Featured Olympian, Kovacs Pal: (b. 12/12/1936 Transylvania (annexed by Rumania) Winner of 7 Olympic Medals! Another Hungarian sports legend affected by the border revisions of the Treaty of Trianon , Pal Kovacs was a member of the Hungarian Sabre team that won gold at Berlin, London, Helsinki, Melbourne and Rome.

He also won individual gold in '52, bronze in '48. He was World Sabre champion in 1937 and 1953. He later became president of the Hungarian Fencing Federation. The punitive and ill-conceived Treaty of Trianon cost Hungary 2/3 of her territory and half her population, 1/3 of which were ethnic Hungarian. Not only was a huge pool of athletic talent cut off from the mother country, the now small, weak Hungary would not be able to resist future Soviet expansion. In a twist of Olympic fate, a now Soviet-dominated Hungary would bow to pressure and boycott the Los Angeles Games in 1984 . One thousand years of nation building successfully delineated groups in Central and Eastern Europe on culture, religion, geography, and other attributes, creating many historic nation-states. While some Western European nations would continue power struggles and princely battles and civil wars, Hungary, founded in 896, was a peaceful multi-ethnic state for a 1000 years and her borders were unchanged.... Until 1920 where new states were drawn by Western powers aiming to expand their own hegemony rather than respect the right to self-determination.

These "Hungarian Olympic Triumph" pages contain many examples of Hungarian Olympic Champions that were born within the boundaries of historic Hungary. But many of these cities, towns, and villages are no longer within Hungary. Historic communities declined. Forced removals such as the Benes Decrees and other pograms, the effects of WWI, and Trianon in 1920 ethnic cleansing, and continued pressure and discriminative policies such as the 2009 Slovak Language Law , continue to take their toll. Ironically, Ferenc Kemeny , one of the founders of the Olympic Movement and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) first Secretary, was born in Nagybecskerek, Hungary in what is now known as Zrenjanin in the Vojvodina part of Serbia after the Treaty of Trianon . Click for larger images DISCLAIMER: The American Hungarian Federation does not necessarily endorse the content or opinions expressed by its individual members and member organizations. © American Hungarian Federation®, All Rights Reserved Short 7' straddle high jumpers [Archive] - Track & Field News Forums Nice list! Were you thinking of Gene Johnson - the last great western roller?

I think Eddie Hanks might have been 5-10 after several hours of being stretched on the rack...otherwise more like 5-8. Also six feet is pretty arbitrary as a cut off... lot's of great straddlers were not much over that height. Most notably Brumel. cask1 Wow...these are great...thanks. Yes I think Faust and Brumel were both about 6' 1/2". dj [quote="rhymans"]Guys under 6'0 included Gene White 5'11 7'2 [a western roller I believe]/quote] Gene White was flopping at least by 1970, when he cleared 6-9 as a high school senior. I think he was probably flopping in 1969 (6-6), but I don't remember for certain. bambam 03-17-2013, 07:00 PM Gene White 5'11 7'2 [a western roller I believe] Help me here. Is there much difference between the straddle and the western roll? Can somebody explain the precise difference to me?

kuha 03-17-2013, 07:02 PM Gene White 5'11 7'2 [a western roller I believe] Help me here. Is there much difference between the straddle and the western roll? Can somebody explain the precise difference to me? As far as I recall, with the Western roll, the legs go over the bar together, with the entire body basically parallel to the bar. With the straddle, of course, the legs are widely separated, and the body's overall center of gravity is lower than with the Western Roll. edit; how tall/short was Rory Kotinek? cullman I got this one from Sports-Reference/Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Men's High Jump Edward Czernik [POL] 5'11" 7' 2 1/2" KDFINE 03-17-2013, 10:57 PM Did anyone else ever jump like Bob Avant? What should his style have been called? Something like but not quite a straddle?

Per Andersen 03-17-2013, 11:30 PM Did anyone else ever jump like Bob Avant? What should his style have been called? Something like but not quite a straddle? Nobody quite like Avant. But I would still call it an extreme Dive straddle. He had a raised lead knee when he went in over the bar. Yes. Gene Johnson was a Western roller but I think Stan Albright is the highest Roller of all time 7-1 1/2 in the 70's indoors. Can be verified in T&FN but I can't do it now. The thing with the Roll was that it was so easy to learn. Simplicity itself. But when jumpers started to speed up the roll in the air, it lead to the Straddle and by then the "no diving" rule was eliminated. A good illustration is Albritton ( early straddler) and Corny Johnson (roller) in the Olympic video which is here now (History board) Vladimir Sitkin 2.15 with "the shoe" was 5-11.

cask1 03-17-2013, 11:39 PM I think Rory Kotinek was about 6'1". And I think his best straddle was 7'1", and his best flop was 7' 6". Dave 03-18-2013, 03:01 AM I think Rory Kotinek was about 6'1". And I think his best straddle was 7'1", and his best flop was 7' 6". Have there been very many high jumpers who could go over 7' with as a flopper and a straddler? That seems really unusual to me. jhc68 03-18-2013, 09:35 AM Matzdorf and certainly some others (Stones most likely and many others if they had chosen to do so) but the guestion is why? If you are an elite jumper capable of 7 foot clearances then why mess around with another technique? Also - to reinforce -there were MANY straddlers only slighty taller than six feet with marks over or very close to 7 ft.

dj 03-18-2013, 03:13 PM Matzdorf and certainly some others (Stones most likely and many others if they had chosen to do so) but the guestion is why? If you are an elite jumper capable of 7 foot clearances then why mess around with another technique? Most--probably all--of the jumpers who cleared 7-0 with both styles were in the process of converting to the flop. Remember that 7-0 was no longer elite by the time the flop came into being, the WR being 7-5 3/4 (2.28) at that time. Per Andersen 03-18-2013, 10:57 PM Most--probably all--of the jumpers who cleared 7-0 with both styles were in the process of converting to the flop. Remember that 7-0 was no longer elite by the time the flop came into being, the WR being 7-5 3/4 (2.28) at that time. Exactly. Stones did straddle early in high school and he liked to play around with that technique later on.

He sometimes used to straddle on lower heights in meets. But of course, the only other technique we see these days is the scissors during warm-ups. bambam Nice site - thanx for that link mrbowie 03-19-2013, 03:42 AM Although not a 7-foot jumper, Gene Zubrinsky of Glendale College came close. I think he went over 6'11" or 6'10 3/4" maybe. He couldn't have been more than 5' 7 1/2" and probably was shorter. He was like a human hover craft, with a slow approach and a straight up vertical leap that was astonishing to see. And maybe one of the funniest S. O. B.s that ever lived! cask1 03-19-2013, 04:18 AM Did anyone else ever jump like Bob Avant? What should his style have been called? Something like but not quite a straddle? I never saw Bobby Avant jump but from the sound of it Randy Fulkerson might of had a similar technique.

Fulkerson was 5'7" and jumped 6' 10" in the 1970 California HS state meet as a junior. I believe that he and Rory Kotenik were the best HS jumpers in LA in 1970. Dwight Stones did not take over until 1971. Per Andersen Nice site - thanx for that link Doesn't hurt that the western roller is Mary Bignal Rand!!! But he should not have called the Eastern cut-off the Japanese cut-off. Had nothing to do with the far east. It was east coast USA. jhc68 03-19-2013, 09:46 AM Max Lowe jumped a little bit like Avant... almost straight-on approach then throw both hands up and over the bar and belly dive. I disagree that 7 feet was not an elite height at the advent of the flop. Yes the WR was 7'5 & 3/4" but in 1968 a seven foot clearance was still notable. Now days the same differential fro the WR would be 7'8" - a ht that would win most elite events. How tall was Les Steers?

And Paul Stuber? And yeah Gene Zubrinsky was a great small straddler! KDFINE Has the "Message Boards" carried height differential tables for straddlers, floppers and others? Conor Dary 03-19-2013, 04:14 PM I disagree that 7 feet was not an elite height at the advent of the flop. Yes the WR was 7'5 & 3/4" but in 1968 a seven foot clearance was still notable. Now days the same differential fro the WR would be 7'8" - a ht that would win most elite events. There is a difference between elite and notable. Clearing 7 ft. may sound nice but wasn't going to win much. If in 1968, 7ft was elite, then what about 6'11 3/4"? I don't think so. dj is right. jhc68 03-19-2013, 07:49 PM KD... go to TFN homepage and follow the archive link to find Holm's list of overhead jumpers. Not many straddlers there however.

Conor you are certainly right in citing the emotional impact of 1/4 inch. Still in 1968 7'4" won OG gold and Eddie Caruthers was second at 7'3" so a 7 ft jumper was only 3 inches away from an OG medal. Four years later Stones medalled with another 7'3" mark. So in my paradigm 7 feet was an elite mark in that era. By 1976 not so much! kuha 03-19-2013, 08:03 PM I'd agree that something like 7'2" was still an "elite" mark in those days, but not 7 feet even..whether that difference is enough to quibble about, I don't know. Per Andersen 03-19-2013, 08:22 PM Jhc68. But in the 1972 Olympics the top 15 jumpers jumpers were over 2.15 (7-1/2). I think Steers was slghtly over 6-1 and Paul Stuber was considerably taller than Faust who was 6ft.

Holm's list is interesting and fun but I don't think any jumper has a special advantage by being taller than 6-6. Sjoberg was unique in that in additon of being 6-6 he had possibly the most efficient clearance technique of them all. Sotomayor was under 6-5. Tallest WR holder was Buddy Davies and he was neither a straddle or a flopper. no one I think kotinek had other superior marks ... 253.## jav, 25.5lj, and ? I think kotinek had other superior marks ... 253.## jav, 25.5lj, and ? I think he ran a decathlon early on at UCLA...I think around 7500? dj 03-20-2013, 01:54 AM I'd agree that something like 7'2" was still an "elite" mark in those days, but not 7 feet even..whether that difference is enough to quibble about, I don't know. In 1968 there 45 straddlers at 7-0 or better, plus Fosbury.

Whether "elite" can include 46 people in a year is up to your definition. Conor Dary 03-20-2013, 02:01 AM I'd agree that something like 7'2" was still an "elite" mark in those days, but not 7 feet even..whether that difference is enough to quibble about, I don't know. In 1968 there 45 straddlers at 7-0 or better, plus Fosbury. Whether "elite" can include 46 people in a year is up to your definition. Only in Lake Wobegon... kuha 03-20-2013, 02:59 AM I'd agree that something like 7'2" was still an "elite" mark in those days, but not 7 feet even..whether that difference is enough to quibble about, I don't know. In 1968 there 45 straddlers at 7-0 or better, plus Fosbury. Whether "elite" can include 46 people in a year is up to your definition. I'd say no.

I stand by my feeling that 7'2"-ish represented a better definition of "elite" in that era. wamego relays champ I think kotinek had other superior marks ... 253.## jav, 25.5lj, and ? I think he ran a decathlon early on at UCLA...I think around 7500? At UCLA Kotinek's height was listed as 6-0.5. After reaching 7-1 as a straddler, he converted to flop in his junior year. His decathlon best of 7,298 was a 5th place mark as a freshman in the '72 NCAA Championships. At UCLA he had an LJ mark of 25-5 and JT best of 253-8; not sure whether he bettered those after his collegiate career ended. .

Scissors, cut-off, roll, straddle and flop - the path of innovation - IEDP Innovation Scissors, cut-off, roll, straddle and flop - the path of innovation Tuck's Vijay Govindarajan says it is not Edison’s 1% of inspiration that makes great innovation but the 99% perspiration DOWNLOAD THIS RESOURCE By downloading this resource your information will be shared with its authors. Full privacy statement. Vijay Govindarajan or VG is one of those rare people that can distil complex processes down into simple ideas. Last week he was launching his new book “The Other Side of Innovation” in a whirlwind tour of London. He kicked off with an interview with star-BBC-interrogator John Humphries on the Today program early in the morning and was still going strong at a launch event of his publishers at eleven clock that night. VG’s idea is that it is not Edison’s 1% of inspiration that makes great innovation but the 99% perspiration – and yet most organisations do not realise this. Ideas are fun, sexy and cheap while implementing them is laborious and mostly left to the “little people”.

But he makes clear that it is in the execution that the opportunity really lies. All great teachers tell great stories – and VG has been elected best teacher at Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth several occasions. He illustrated the path of innovation with reference to how the high jump record was systematically improved across the 20th century. At the turn of the century jumpers were still using the same technique they had in Greek competitions 2500 years before, essentially a hurdling manoeuvre known as “the scissors”. This was modified in the early 20th century by pushing the torso horizontal in what was known as the eastern cut-off which developed into the western roll. Heights gained went up by 30 cms to over two metres. In the 1950’s an American started twisting his body stomach first over the pole in what was called “the straddle” and another 30cm leap in height was achieved. However in the mid-1960’s Dick Fosbury innovated further with the Fosbury flop, where radically he crossed the pole first with his head and the body following after.

This was only possible since landing mats were vastly larger and softer than previously used – but it allowed heights considerably higher than that of the jumper to be achieved. In the course of 60 years the high jump record had risen by nearly 30%. The notable thing about all these developments was that initially the new technique produced no better results than the old one. This meant that it was only determined outsiders who continued to use and develop them, as the current leaders believed their way that had got them to the top was not going to be surpassed by some new, eccentric method. And they got left behind. VG’s point being that insiders are unlikely to be innovators – you have to innovate from the outside.

This is echoed in this week’s Economist where, describing innovative new jet engine designs, they say “as with any radical change to an existing technology…a large installed baser of expertise together with lots of regulation mean it can be hard for a new-comer to make headway.” ADD TO MY ARTICLES Developing Leaders Magazine: The Essential Leadership Quarterly "I never miss Developing Leaders… a sophisticated source of new thinking around leadership development." - Michelle Quest, Partner, KPMG LLP A cross-discipline approach to the art and science of leadership, with research, analysis, opinion and practical advice from the world’s foremost business thinkers and practitioners. For information on print subscriptions sign up below and check the relevant box The Executive Briefing and Upcoming Programs All the latest analysis, stories and resources from IEDP.com – as well as invitations to webinars and live events, and a look at the best upcoming programs – direct to your inbox. Sign me up High Jump history | Greatest Sporting Nation High Jump history Submitted by nicolamira on 29 November, 2009 - 10:00 The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century.

Early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a scissors technique. In the latter, the bar was approached diagonally, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to modernise, starting with the Irish-American M.F. Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off as if with the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance and raised the world record to 6 feet 5.625 inches (1.97 m) in 1895. Another American, M.F. Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine increased the world standard to 6 feet 7 inches (2.0 m) in 1912.

His technique predominated through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 2.03 metres (6 ft 8 in). American and Russian jumpers held the playing field for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most economical clearance up to that time. Straddle-jumper Charles Dumas broke the elusive 7 feet (2.13 m) barrier in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 metres in 1960. Valeriy Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet jumper radically sped up his approach run, took the record up to 2.28 metres and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident ended his career. American coaches, including two-time NCAA champion Frank Costello of the University of Maryland, flocked to Russia to learn from Brumel and his coaches.

However, it would be a solitary innovator at Oregon State University, Dick Fosbury, who would bring the high jump into the next century. Taking advantage of the raised, softer landing areas by then in use, Fosbury added a new twist to the outmoded Eastern Cut-off. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a fashion which would likely have broken his neck in the old, sawdust landing pits. After he used this Fosbury flop to win the 1968 Olympic gold medal, the technique began to spread around the world, and soon floppers were dominating international high jump competitions. The last straddler to set a world record was the late Vladimir Yashchenko, who cleared 2.33 metres (7 ft 8 in) in 1977 and then 2.35 metres (7 ft 9 in) indoors in 1978.

Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were: Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, NJ, who cleared 2.32 metres an astounding 0.61 m over his head height; Chinese record-setters Ni-chi Chin and Zhu Jianhua; Germans Gerd Wessig and Dietmar Mögenburg; Swedish Olympic medalist and world record holder Patrik Sjöberg; and female jumpers Iolanda Balaş of Romania, Ulrike Meyfarth of Germany and Italy's Sara Simeoni. Today all the best high jumpers in the world prefer the Fosbury technique. However, the last men’s world record with the straddle was 2.35 m in 1978, which would still be an absolute top performance today. It is clear then that the dominance of the Fosbudry flop originates in an easier-to-learn basic form rather than in fundamental biomechanical advantages. Beginners have better results with the flop and improve faster.

High Jump Straddle vs Flop - ELITETRACK You are at: Home » Forums » Event Specific Discussion » Jumps »High Jump Straddle vs Flop High Jump Straddle vs Flop Participant Daniel Andrews on April 24, 2009 at 3:20 am #15656 Mike’s Blog on this topic brought up some interesting debate on this topic Biomechanics of the Rotational Shot Put and the Rare Case of Technical Dichotomy I would really like to know the thought of others between the two. Although some respected coaches and researchers still claim the straddle to have equal or superior HJ possibilities. Didn’t the resistance against the flop in late60s into the 70s teach us anything when the flop jumpers were besting straddle jumpers on a regular basis. If the straddle was superior then why did those who switched to the flop stay with it? This is one of the rare cases where a different technique was used by elites successfully before it came up from the lower ranks first. I think this helps establish the superiority of the flop over the straddle for the purpose of HJ competition even though one can achieve higher takeoff velocities and heights with the straddle technique.

Participant aivala on April 24, 2009 at 4:50 am #82167 From my own experience one of the advantages of the straddle is that you are able to time the jumps much better since you have the bar in sight throughout the jump. On the other hand kicking high in front of you required a crazy flexibility in the groin, hip and hamstrings that I never had. The flop doesn’t require such a crazy kick so you don’t need to be a contortionist to jump proficiently. Anyway IMHO the straddle looks nicer to watch. It was also painful if you happened to take off far of the bar and landed on the bar looking down. ouch! I read somewhere that the average starting position of the COM at take off was higher with the straddle, so it may outweight the benefit of being able to keep the COM under the bar of the flop. Participant Daniel Andrews on April 24, 2009 at 5:43 am #82168 Francisco: If the straddle is superior, it would have stayed superior when resistance to the flop was at its peak.

I think sight throughout the jump can be a drawback over learning temporal and spatial relationships without always using sight of the bar. You still use sight in the HJ with the flop, most notably use of the opposite standard. It’s more painful to land on the bar on your back, besides most misses initially move the bar up and away or laterally away on first contact in either straddle or flop. It easier to negotiate your limbs over the bar on your back as opposed to on your front. Participant aivala on April 24, 2009 at 9:01 am #82174 Francisco: If the straddle is superior, it would have stayed superior when resistance to the flop was at its peak. I think sight throughout the jump can be a drawback over learning temporal and spatial relationships without always using sight of the bar. You still use sight in the HJ with the flop, most notably use of the opposite standard. It’s more painful to land on the bar on your back, besides most misses initially move the bar up and away or laterally away on first contact in either straddle or flop. It easier to negotiate your limbs over the bar on your back as opposed to on your front.

I agree with you! Straddle wasn’t dropped just because it was harder to learn. Otherwise nobody would be double hitch kicking in the lj. Anyway I didn’t ever tried to straddle seriously, I just developed some technique from all the jumps done in warm ups when I was a high jumper, from 9 to 15 y.o.. But what I can surely afirm is that the fear of new heights was almost not there, the fact of being able to see “your oponent” all the way through the jump helped a lot. On the other hand you learn that ability with practice in the usual flop. I have also landed with the bar on my back many times and while it’s really painful it’s even more to press your balls against the bar lol. With the flop it’s much easier to get over the bar, in the straddle you have to roll a lot and that takes a lot off the jump.

Your left side is the closest to the pit and during the jump the right side is the first one to clear the bar, with the flop your right side is the closest one to the bar and the first one to clear it, you don’t have to rotate that much and can concentrate much more in the actual jumping rather than on the bar clearance. edit: when I was arround 10 y.o. I used to video tape myself doing the something that intended to be a straddle in my backyard. Due to the form of my garden I just could aproach the mats (I used my sleeping mats for this purpose! my mom didn’t like it) from the left side so I was forced to straddle. I believe the tapes are somewhere in my room. Participant JeremyRichmond wrote: ” date=”1240543910″][quote author="Daniel Andrews (dbandre)" date="1240532036"]Francisco: If the straddle is superior, it would have stayed superior when resistance to the flop was at its peak. I think sight throughout the jump can be a drawback over learning temporal and spatial relationships without always using sight of the bar.

You still use sight in the HJ with the flop, most notably use of the opposite standard. It’s more painful to land on the bar on your back, besides most misses initially move the bar up and away or laterally away on first contact in either straddle or flop. It easier to negotiate your limbs over the bar on your back as opposed to on your front. I agree with you! Straddle wasn’t dropped just because it was harder to learn. Otherwise nobody would be double hitch kicking in the lj. Anyway I didn’t ever tried to straddle seriously, I just developed some technique from all the jumps done in warm ups when I was a high jumper, from 9 to 15 y.o.. But what I can surely afirm is that the fear of new heights was almost not there, the fact of being able to see “your oponent” all the way through the jump helped a lot. On the other hand you learn that ability with practice in the usual flop. I have also landed with the bar on my back many times and while it’s really painful it’s even more to press your balls against the bar lol.

With the flop it’s much easier to get over the bar, in the straddle you have to roll a lot and that takes a lot off the jump. Your left side is the closest to the pit and during the jump the right side is the first one to clear the bar, with the flop your right side is the closest one to the bar and the first one to clear it, you don’t have to rotate that much and can concentrate much more in the actual jumping rather than on the bar clearance. edit: when I was arround 10 y.o. I used to video tape myself doing the something that intended to be a straddle in my backyard. Due to the form of my garden I just could aproach the mats (I used my sleeping mats for this purpose! my mom didn’t like it) from the left side so I was forced to straddle. I believe the tapes are somewhere in my room.[/quote] One of the things that come to mind in favour of the flop is the ability to transfer horizontal velocity into vertical velocity. One of the limitations of the straddle (and the insanely proposed forward flop)) is the ability to faciliate that transfer.

I’m of the opinion that the free swinging leg (in the Fosbury flop) initiates a backward rotation that does not so much fight forward velocity but deflects that velocity into a sidewards, upwards, and backwards movement. Participant Daniel Andrews on April 24, 2009 at 1:24 pm #82208 [quote author=”Francisco Falise [aivala]” date=”1240543910″][quote author="Daniel Andrews (dbandre)" date="1240532036"]Francisco: If the straddle is superior, it would have stayed superior when resistance to the flop was at its peak. I think sight throughout the jump can be a drawback over learning temporal and spatial relationships without always using sight of the bar. You still use sight in the HJ with the flop, most notably use of the opposite standard. It’s more painful to land on the bar on your back, besides most misses initially move the bar up and away or laterally away on first contact in either straddle or flop. It easier to negotiate your limbs over the bar on your back as opposed to on your front. I agree with you!

Straddle wasn’t dropped just because it was harder to learn. Otherwise nobody would be double hitch kicking in the lj. Anyway I didn’t ever tried to straddle seriously, I just developed some technique from all the jumps done in warm ups when I was a high jumper, from 9 to 15 y.o.. But what I can surely afirm is that the fear of new heights was almost not there, the fact of being able to see “your oponent” all the way through the jump helped a lot. On the other hand you learn that ability with practice in the usual flop. I have also landed with the bar on my back many times and while it’s really painful it’s even more to press your balls against the bar lol. With the flop it’s much easier to get over the bar, in the straddle you have to roll a lot and that takes a lot off the jump. Your left side is the closest to the pit and during the jump the right side is the first one to clear the bar, with the flop your right side is the closest one to the bar and the first one to clear it, you don’t have to rotate that much and can concentrate much more in the actual jumping rather than on the bar clearance.

edit: when I was arround 10 y.o. I used to video tape myself doing the something that intended to be a straddle in my backyard. Due to the form of my garden I just could aproach the mats (I used my sleeping mats for this purpose! my mom didn’t like it) from the left side so I was forced to straddle. I believe the tapes are somewhere in my room.[/quote] One of the things that come to mind in favour of the flop is the ability to transfer horizontal velocity into vertical velocity. One of the limitations of the straddle (and the insanely proposed forward flop)) is the ability to faciliate that transfer. I’m of the opinion that the free swinging leg (in the Fosbury flop) initiates a backward rotation that does not so much fight forward velocity but deflects that velocity into a sidewards, upwards, and backwards movement.[/quote] This last part is the key to why the Flop is superior despite research and testimony of so-called expert coaches. Rotational flight around a fixed line in the vertical plane. Show me a 7’5″ straddler and I show you an 7’9″ flopper.

Participant Dan ol boy, I will take your 7′ 9″ flopper and raise you… (time warp him) back to jump against Thomas & Brumel in say 1962. In those spikes, on those surfaces… He can even bring a nice 2009 pit back with him cause the landing isn’t at issue here. Second: Even after the Fos came along, for some years after that the old school boys were competitive. Third and most important: You all are also missing a key point in this discussion. The last Russian non-floppers weren’t “Straddlers” they were Dive Straddlers. An important distinction. Dive Straddlers turned their head/torso 90 deg to the bar, allowing it to drop and thus raising their hips and effectively advantaging bar clearance similar to the flopper’s arch on top. Also remember that non-Floppers employed a much slower run-up, on lesser surfaces with lesser shoes, working in less advanced training and recovery environments, such that the potential was always there for improvement. But that went away with Dick’s innovation. We have all heard that the C of Mass could conceivably pass under a bar during a make.

But Jesus and others will debate any actual claimed practical application of same. They used to propose a jump by Sjoberg in fact did so but have since backed off from that position. While the concept of the advantage of the Flop’s Arch is well discussed, people forget that the C of M at the moment of ground release is in fact lower than was for a Straddler. How can that be the best possible TO without debate? The fact is that there are people jumping today if given an equal mastery of Dive & Flop, who would be better served with the Dive than the Flop. There are advantages to both. Participant aivala on April 24, 2009 at 2:58 pm #82222 Now you mention the dive straddle I wanted to share some images that were in the deepest archives of my hard disk: Jaschenko 2.35? And his “dunk”: And the old western roll: There are some also some miscelaneous differences, f.e. some straddlers used to wear spikes just on their take off foot, while the other foot remained bare.

Participant Daniel Andrews on April 24, 2009 at 3:00 pm #82227 CFKA: It’s too bad such a gamble cannot take place otherwise I would take you up. Aren’t you talking about the difference between the western roll and what I consider a straddle? I was taught the western roll and flop way back in 1984 in my first foray into competitive track and field. From my understanding this is not much difference. However, I have come across only one jumper who I considered changing to the western roll/straddle in my time coaching which isn’t as long nor as broad as yours, but even kids who have never watched a high jump come the conclusion of clearing with their back within 2 practice sessions of experimentation at the high jump. Lets deal with the issue of limbs clearing the bar and not the torso. This is the biggest problem with most misses is the limbs. Is it easier to control the limbs in a straddle or a flop? Then again there are some interesting variations of the flop out there. One being a straighter, speed based approach similar to a straddle or western roll.

Keymaster Daniel Andrews on April 24, 2009 at 3:20 pm #82233 Francisco- Thanks for posting those pics. Those are awesome. The first one is especially cool. I actually have the article also. I also think visually observing the bar up to clearance could be a big advantage. Much like the shot put, different techniques are probably appropriate for different morphologies and physical capacities. The common think now though is that the the flop is the only viable option. I like the article as well as it mentions the western roll. Anyways, I still think the straddle is viable. Just I haven’t really come across anyone really needing it. The jumper who I considered to teach it to was a multi. I chose not to teach because of time considerations and the athlete was getting better at the flop. If I had more time, I don’t know which route I would have taken. Keymaster Participant aivala on April 24, 2009 at 3:32 pm #82238 You are welcome.

Those images are the result of years of digging into internet “treasure caves” due to my former fanatism with high jumping and my attemp to self taught the straddle. I have been always fascinated by all the possible ways to high jump: scissor, eastern cutoff, western roll, straddle, flop. A little straddle footage: I also remember seeing some footage of Brumel, I believe it was in a film about the 1960 Olympics. The film “Olympia” (Leni Riefenstahl) about the 1936 olympics also features a tremendous amount of footage of high quality slow motion jumping. I have also had this images for years and haven’t figured out all the mentioned techniques: Keymaster Mike Young on April 24, 2009 at 3:37 pm #82240 Thanks again. Nice video. It’s funny how they call the swing leg short and fast on some of those floppers when compared to today’s jumpers it’s almost a straight leg swing. ELITETRACK Founder

Question: 'Straddle'and 'Western Roll' were techniques used in which athletics event?
Answer: HIGH JUMP