High Jump

Selasa, 02 Oktober 2012

The high jump is a track and field athletics 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. It has been contested since the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. 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 metres 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 metres since 1987, also the longest-held record in the event.

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 5 12 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 8 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 2.13 m (or 7 feet) in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to 2.23 m (7 ft 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 metres (7 ft 6 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 2 12 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 7 12 in) in 1977 and then 2.35 m (7 ft 8 12 in) indoors in 1978.
Among renowned high jumpers following Fosbury's lead were: Americans Dwight Stones and his rival, 1.73 m (5 feet 8 inches) tall Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, NJ, who cleared 2.32 m (7 ft 7 12 in), an astounding 0.59 metres (1 ft 11 in) over his head (a feat equaled 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 - and there are an additional four holes in the heel of the takeoff 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. 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.

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