Reactions to the death of legend Fosbury

World athletics said goodbye to the American Dick FosburyOlympic high jump champion in 1968, calling him a “legend for the legacy he left behind” and “innovative” for the revolutionary back jumping technique he introduced and from which his surname is derived.

Fosbury, who has died at 76, was the great innovator of the high jump. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico, he surprised the whole world by jumping backwards, unlike other athletes, who until then only did it from the front, using a technique called the ventral roller. He took gold with nine jumps in his revolutionary new style.

“Our sport is losing a true legend and innovator. He invented the Fosbury Flop, was a gold medalist in the 1968 Games and a lifelong advocate for athletes. Fosbury’s legacy will live on for generations to come.” United States Track and Field Federation (USATF) in social networks.

michael johnsonwinner of four Olympic gold medals and holder until the Rio 2016 Olympic Games of the world record of 400 meters with 43.18 seconds, assured that “the term legend is probably used a lot but Dick Fosbury is a true legend”.

“He changed a discipline forever with a method that seemed crazy at the time, but as a result made it standard,” he confessed.

Scott BarnesVice President and Director of Athletics at Oregon State University, the state where Fosbury was born, said that “he was one of the most innovative and influential athletes in the history of track and field.”

“He did many great things for Oregon State University and will always be a Beaver legend. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and all who had the honor of knowing him,” he said.

The former athlete from Trinidad and Tobago This is Boldonwinner of four Olympic medals in the sprint events in Atlanta’96 and Sydney 2000, sent his condolences to a “legend and pioneer of the high jump for whom athletics will always be eternally grateful.”

World Athletics, the International Athletics Federationalso “deeply” regretted the death of Fosbury, “one of the greats”.

Fosbury’s method created a school and an innovation that was imitated by jumpers from all countries. Luis Maria Garriga, The best Spanish jumper of those years and the first to exceed two meters, recalled with EFE in 2018 the impact that seeing him caused him.

“The first time I saw him do it was at a moviola of the Spanish Athletics Federation and it seemed too much to me,” he said.

In this style, in 1993, the Cuban Javier Sotomayor he rose more than 2.45 meters to set the world record and achieve in Salamanca (Spain) one of the longest records in the history of athletics.