HIGH JUMP

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Athletics High jump
Yelena Slesarenko using the Fosbury Flop technique at 2004 Summer Olympics.
Men's records
World	Javier Sotomayor 2.45 m (8 ft 01⁄4 in) (1993)
Olympic	Charles Austin 2.39 m (7 ft 10 in) (1996)
Women's records
World	Stefka Kostadinova 2.09 m (6 ft 101⁄4 in) (1987)
Olympic	Yelena Slesarenko 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) (2004)

The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices. In its modern most practiced format, auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years. Over the centuries since, competitors have introduced increasingly more effective techniques to arrive at the current form.
Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) is the current men's record holder with a jump of 2.45 m (8 ft 0¹⁄₄ in) set in 1993, the longest standing record in the history of the men's high jump. Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria) has held the women's world record at 2.09 m (6 ft 10¹⁄₄ in) since 1987, also the longest-held record in the event.

Rules

Canadian high jumper Nicole Forrester demonstrating the Fosbury flop

Jumpers must take off on one foot.
A jump is considered a failure if the bar is dislodged by the action of the jumper whilst jumping or the jumper touches the ground or breaks the plane of the near edge of the bar before clearance . The technique one uses for the jump must be almost flawless in order to have a chance of clearing a high bar.
Competitors may begin jumping at any height announced by the chief judge, or may pass, at their own discretion. Three consecutive missed jumps, at any height or combination of heights, will eliminate the jumper from competition.
The victory goes to the jumper who clears the greatest height during the final. If two or more jumpers tie for first place, the tie-breakers are: 1) The fewest misses at the height at which the tie occurred; and 2) The fewest misses throughout the competition.
If the event remains tied, the jumpers have a jump-off, beginning at the next greater height. Each jumper has one attempt. The bar is then alternately lowered and raised until only one jumper succeeds at a given height.^[1]

History

Konstantinos Tsiklitiras during the standing high jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics

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 Michael Sweeney's Eastern cut-off. By taking off like the scissors, but extending his back and flattening out over the bar, Sweeney achieved a more economic clearance and raised the world record to 1.97 m (6 ft 5¹⁄₂ in) in 1895.
Another American, George 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 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) in 1912. His technique was predominant through the Berlin Olympics of 1936, in which the event was won by Cornelius Johnson at 2.03 m (6 ft 7³⁄₄ in).
American and Soviet 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 was the first to clear 7 feet (2.13 m) in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 m (7 ft 3³⁄₄ in) 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 m (7 ft 5³⁄₄ in), and won the Olympic gold medal in 1964, before a motorcycle accident ended his career.

Gold medal winner Ethel Catherwood of Canada scissors over the bar at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Her winning result was 1.59 m (5 ft 2¹⁄₂ in).

Platt Adams during the standing high jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics

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 Vladimir Yashchenko, who cleared 2.33 m (7 ft 7¹⁄₂ in) in 1977 and then 2.35 m (7 ft 8¹⁄₂ in) indoors in 1978.
Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were: Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, 1.73 metres (5 ft 8 in) tall Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, NJ, who cleared 2.32 m (7 ft 7¹⁄₄ in), an astounding 0.59 metres (1 ft 11 in) over his head (a feat equaled 27 years later by Sweden's Stefan Holm); 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.

Technical aspects

High jump shoes

High jump shoes are different from most other track shoes in that they have much thicker soles than ordinary "sprint spikes" - in order to provide stability and comfort at take-off, although in the 1960s and early 70s, when the straddle technique still predominated, a single shoe was often worn on the take-off foot where the built-up sole would allow the free leg to swing without spikes catching the ground. There are an additional four holes in the heel of the take-off shoe, where the user can insert spikes for increased traction. The total number of spikes allowed by the IAAF can not exceed 11 in the sole, and jump shoes are normally configured with six or seven in the front, and four in the heel: spikes may not exceed 12mm in length. The four heel spikes aid greatly in the last four to five steps of the J-approach, allowing the jumper to run on his or her curve at a fast speed without slipping. The limit for the length of spikes in the shoe may not exceed 9mm in length on a senthetic track. Some high jump shoes are even more technologically developed and in addition to the extra spikes on the heel, the shoes are modified to lean the direction of the approach to provide further support while running their curve. As well as the approach, high jump shoes also help and support the jumper's takeoff. The IAAF regulations specify a maximum sole thickness for both high jump and long jump shoes; competitors in all other events may wear shoes with soles of any thickness.

The approach

Spanish jumper Ruth Beitia approaching the bar from an angle

The approach of the high jump may actually be more important than the take off. If a high jumper runs with bad timing or without enough aggression, clearing a high bar becomes more of a challenge. The approach requires a certain shape or curve, the right amount of speed, and the correct number of strides. The approach angle is also critical for optimal height.
Most great straddle jumpers have a run at angles of about 30 to 40 degrees. The length of the run is determined by the speed of the person's approach. A slower run requires about 8 strides. However, a faster high jumper might need about 13 strides. A greater run speed allows a greater part of the body's forward momentum to be converted upward .^[2]
The J type approach, favored by Fosbury floppers, allows for horizontal speed, the ability to turn in the air (centripetal force), and good take-off position. The approach should be a hard controlled stride so that a person does not fall from creating an angle with speed. Athletes should run tall and lean from the ankles on the curve and not the hips.^[3] Unlike the "classic" straddle technique, where the take-off foot is "planted" in the same spot at every height, flop-style jumpers must adjust their take-off as the bar is raised. Their J approach run must be adjusted slightly so that their take-off spot is slightly further out from the bar in order to allow their hips to clear the bar while still maintaining enough momentum to carry their legs across the bar. Jumpers attempting to reach record heights commonly fail when most of their energy is directed into the vertical effort, and they brush the bar off the standards with the backs of their legs as they stall-out in mid-air.
Drills can be practiced to solidify the approach. One drill is to run in a straight line (the linear part of the approach) and then run two to three circles spiraling into one another. Another is to run or skip a circle of any size, two to three times in a row.^[4] It is important to train to leap upwards without first leaning into the bar, allowing the momentum of the J approach to carry the body across the bar.

Declaring the winner

In competition the winner is the person who cleared the highest height. In case of a tie, fewer failed attempts at that height are better: i.e., the jumper who makes a height on his/her first attempt is placed ahead of someone who clears the same height on the second or third attempt. If there still is a tie here, all the failed attempts at lower heights are added up, the one with the fewest number of total misses is declared the winner. If still tied a playoff is held. Starting height is the next larger height after the overjumped one. If all the competitors clear the height, the bar is raised 2 cm (0.79 in), and if they fail, the bar is lowered 2 cm. That continues until only one competitor succeeds in overjumping that height, he is declared the winner.

• In the table below, dashes indicate that a height was not attempted, crosses indicate failed attempts, and circles indicate a cleared height. Jumpers A and D cleared 1.99 m but failed at 2.01 m. A wins this competition having cleared the winning height with two attempts, while jumper D required three attempts. Similarly, B is ranked ahead of C having cleared the decisive height (i.e., 1.97m) in the first attempt.

Athlete	1.91 m	1.93 m	1.95 m	1.97 m	1.99 m	2.01 m	Height	Rank
A	-	-	XO	XO	XO	XXX	1.99	1st
B	O	-	O	O	XXX		1.97	3rd
C	O	-	XO	XO	X--	XX	1.97	4th
D	-	XO	O	XXO	XXO	XXX	1.99	2nd
E	-	-	-	XXX			—	5th