High jump technique
High jump techniques have changed throughout history, as in any other sport. There is no sport that today looks like it did in the beginning, but all sports have experienced and are constantly experiencing certain changes over time. All changes happen in order to improve and popularize a particular sport, and the changes brought by competitors are in order to improve results. They just did high jump technique changed so that jumpers could jump ever higher heights. Logically, the goal of high jump is for the jumper to jump over the bar, which is placed at heights of over 2 meters, without any aids.
High jump is today an Olympic sport, and it used to be a skill with which men showed and proved their courage and masculinity. Namely, members of the African tribe Watusi competed in the high jump where they had to jump over their height with the reflection of termites. Modern high jump is mentioned in Germany, as part of physical education for children. In England, high jump gained the status of a competitive sport in the 19th century.
A leap in technology throughout history
High jump technique they changed drastically throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Of course, as the skipping technique changed, so did the high jump records. In the first competitions, squats were used, where jumpers jumped over bent knees. The jumpers took a position where they faced the bar and ran directly towards it.
In front of the bar, they would reflect and jump over the bar with their knees together. It is clear that this technique is restrictive and that it did not allow jumpers to jump over significant heights. From this primitive technique arose the technique of the double scissors, or Sweeney. The next step in the development of the high jump technique was the Straddle technique. This technique involved a run of 5 to 9 running steps, and after the reflection the jumper had to swing and stretch his arm and leg to encourage body rotation around the axis. The bar was jumped in such a way that the jumper’s chest rotated around the bar, and the landing was made on the side.
The best high jump technique
The real high jump revolution happened with the appearance of the best high jump technique, a back technique that is still used today. This technique was first used by American high jumper Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. Of course, Fosbury won the gold medal and set a world record by jumping a height of 224 centimeters. The very technique developed by Fosbury involves a semicircular run, and the slat is crossed with the back. We can also call this technique backstroke technique, and the jumpers set current world records by using this technique.
Javier Sotomayor jumped 245 centimeters and set a world record in the men’s competition, while Bulgarian jumper Stefka Kostadinova set a world record of 209 centimeters. Croatian Blanka Vlašić is on the second place of the best results of female jumpers, with 208 centimeters skipped, she was the closest to breaking the world record in 2009 when she tried to jump 210 centimeters in height. The leap in technology has not undergone significant changes for several decades, and it is interesting that world records were also set decades ago. This may lead us to the conclusion that we will have to be patient until the next world record until some new technique of high jump appears.
source: wiki
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