Dick Fosbury

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Dick Fosbury" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Dick Fosbury

Fosbury in 1968
Personal information
Full name	Richard Douglas Fosbury
Born	(1947-03-06)March 6, 1947 Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died	March 12, 2023(2023-03-12) (aged 76) Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight	183 lb (83 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event	High jump
College team	Oregon State University
Club	Oregon State Beavers, Corvallis
Achievements and titles
Personal best	2.24 m (7 ft 4¼ in) (1968)[1]
Medal record Men's athletics Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City High jump

Richard Douglas Fosbury (March 6, 1947 – March 12, 2023) was an American high jumper, who is considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, revolutionizing the high jump event with a "back-first" technique now known as the Fosbury flop. His method was to sprint diagonally towards the bar, then curve and leap backward over the bar, which gave him a much lower center of mass in flight than traditional techniques. Debbie Brill was developing her similar "Brill Bend" around the same time. This approach has seen nearly universal adoption since Fosbury's performance in Mexico. Though he never returned to the Olympics, Fosbury continued to be involved in athletics after retirement and served on the executive board of the World Olympians Association.^[2]

In 2014, Fosbury unsuccessfully challenged Steve Miller for a seat in the Idaho House of Representatives. Fosbury ran for Blaine County Commissioner against incumbent Larry Schoen in 2018, won the seat, and took office in 2019.