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The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He also played football, professional baseball, and professional basketball.
Frederick Carlton Lewis is a former American track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, when he last won the Olympic long jump. He is one of only six Olympic athletes who won a gold medal in the same individual event in four consecutive Olympic Games. Along with USA discus thrower Al Oerter, he is one of only two Olympians to win a gold medal in the same individual event in athletics in four Olympic Games. He is currently the head track and field coach for the University of Houston.
Michael Anthony Powell is an American former track and field athlete, and the holder of the long jump world record. He is a two-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist in this event. His world record of 8.95 m has stood since 1991.
Richard Douglas Fosbury 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 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.
Jan Stenerud is a Norwegian-American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs. The first Norwegian NFL player, he played college football for the Montana State Bobcats and earned All-American honors. Stenerud began his career in the AFL after being selected by the Chiefs during the 1966 draft and joined the NFL following the AFL–NFL merger. Along with his 13 seasons in Kansas City, Stenerud was a member of the Green Bay Packers for four seasons and the Minnesota Vikings for two seasons until retiring in 1985.
The first world record in the men's high jump was recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1912.
The men's high jump was one of four jumping events on the Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The high jump was held on 10 April. Five competitors took part in the event, three of them Americans. Ellery Clark, who had previously won the long jump, also won this event. Garrett and Connolly tied for second place.
Lawson "Robbie" N. Robertson was considered one of the more accomplished American track coaches of the first half of the twentieth century. From 1904-1936, he was with the American team at every Olympics with the exception of 1916 when the Olympics were cancelled due to WWI. He coached Track and Field for the Irish-American Athletic Club in Queens, New York from 1909–16, and then for the University of Pennsylvania from 1916-47. He was U.S. Olympic Assistant Track coach in 1912 and 1920 and was head coach for the American Track and Field Team in four Olympics from 1924-36.
James Joseph Sweeney was an American college football coach who was the head coach at Montana State University (1963–1967), Washington State University (1968–1975), and California State University, Fresno, compiling a career college football record of 201–153–4 (.567). Sweeney's 144 wins at Fresno State are the most in the program's history. He was also an assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played in college as an end for the Portland Pilots.
Tora Lian-Juin Harris is an American high jumper. He is a Princeton University engineer of Taiwanese and African-American descent. Harris is an Olympian, a four-time national champion and two-time bronze medalist in international competition. He represented Team USA twice in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, three times in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and has served as a representative once in the IAAF Continental Cup. He spent two years as the No. 1 ranked high jumper in the United States.
The scissors is a style used in the athletics event of high jump.
The Irish American Athletic Club was an amateur athletic organization, based in Queens, New York, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Michael Charles Murphy was an American athletic trainer and coach at Yale University, Detroit Athletic Club (1889–1892), University of Michigan (1891), Villanova University (1894), University of Pennsylvania, and the New York Athletic Club (1890–1900). He coached the American track athletes at the Summer Olympics in 1900, 1908, and 1912. He spent a year in approximately 1884 as the trainer of heavyweight boxing champion John L. Sullivan.
Charles B. Hoyt was an American track athlete and coach.
John Kenneth Doherty was an American decathlon champion, college track and field coach, author and longtime director of the Penn Relays. While a student at the University of Michigan, Doherty won the American decathlon championship in 1928 and 1929 and won the bronze medal in the event at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. He later served as a track coach at Princeton University (1929–1930), the University of Michigan (1930–1948), and the University of Pennsylvania (1948–1957). He was also the meet director for the Penn Relays from 1956 to 1969 and of the first dual track meet between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1959. He was also a published author of works on track coaching, and his Track & Field Omnibook was regarded as "the track coach's bible" from the 1970s through the 1990s. Doherty has been inducted into at least six athletic halls of fame, including the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and athletic halls of fame at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University.
Carol LeGrant Lewis is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the long jump. She is the 1983 World Championship bronze medalist, and a 4-time US Champion. Her best long jump of 7.04 meters in 1985 is the former American record. She is the sister of 9-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, and former professional soccer player Cleveland Lewis. She is also the daughter of retired American hurdler Evelyn Lawler.
Randall Wade Cunningham II is a former American high jumper. He competed collegiately for the USC Trojans Men's track & field team. A dual-sport athlete, he also played quarterback at Bishop Gorman High School. He is a five-time Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) state champion. He is a 2-time NCAA Track Champion, and 4-time NCAA All-American, U.S. Junior National Champion, and Pan American Junior Athletics Championships Champion.
Keith Spalding Brown was an American athlete, politician and businessman. He broke the pole vault world record both indoors and outdoors and was also a good high jumper. He later became involved in politics and served as the Republican Party's state chairman in Arizona for two years.
Michael Hartfield is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the long jump. He holds a personal best of 8.34 m for the event, set in 2016. He competed in the 2016 Olympics for Team USA in the long jump.
References
- ↑ Michael Sweeney at Track and Field Statistics (registration required)
- ↑ Joseph Lee and Marion R. Casey (2006). Making the Irish American: History and Heritage of the Irish in the United States. NYU Press. p. 449. ISBN 9780814752081.
- ↑ Frank Zarnowski (2005). All-around Men: Heroes of a Forgotten Sport. Scarecrow Press. p. 123. ISBN 9780810854239 . Retrieved November 20, 2013.
- ↑ "Murphy to Leave Yale" (PDF). New York Times . May 30, 1905. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
