3 Innovations I Heartily Dislike !

[TrackDaddy]

See, I would think the same thing too, Marlow (If I'm visualing correctly your description). The belly to the bar pike is used in the pole vault although obviously a different event.

And doesnt the full on dive straddle allow to generate more speed? Of course that may not be an issue if sufficient speed can be generated in other ways.

[dukehjsteve]

I fully agree with Mark's analysis of the advantages of the Flop although I respectfully disagree with his opinion of the aesthetics. Am I biased as a pre-flopper ? Of course I am !!

[Marlow]

if another forward jumping technique to world class heights is possible, I think we would have seen it by now)

Raise your hands if you see the error in logic there!

[lonewolf]

I have never understood the mechanics or technique of the flop. It does seem to me a forward dive should be more "efficient" but I am ready to concede that it is not.
I was not a high jumper but circa 1949 could straddle 8" over my head, which was kind of a novelty at the time.
Now, I believe the record for height jumped above jumpers height is about 22". (Franklin Jacobs?) (Anybody know how to look that up?) I don't know what the record is for straddle jumpers but I cannot conceive of that disparity.
I don't think I could have even kicked the bar off 22" above my head.

[Marlow]

Franklin Jacobs, 5'8, jumped 7'7.25, 23.25 inches above his head! :shock:

[lonewolf]

Franklin Jacobs, 5'8, jumped 7'7.25, 23.25 inches above his head! :shock:

Thats it. Unfathomable. There was a 5'9" JUCO jumper around here several years ago who consistenlty flopped 7-0 and that looked impossible.

[Conor Dary]

The big advantage of the flop is the center of gravity goes under the bar in a successful clearance, something not true with the straddle.

[lonewolf]

The big advantage of the flop is the center of gravity goes under the bar in a successful clearance, something not true with the straddle.

The physics, or mathmatics or geometry or whatever it is of that is "beyond my ken." :?

[dukehjsteve]

Re: 3 Innovations I Heartily Dislike !

And how do you feel about the electric light bulb and the horseless carriage? :P

They are fine, but canned beer and McDonald's Quarter Pounder were greater inventions.

[dukehjsteve]

Anybody ( besides me) remember Bob Avant's straight dive style ? He jumped 7 feet in 1961 with it, won the AAU and beat some guy named Thomas. I tried it out the next year ( college frosh) when I was transitioning from the Western Roll Ihad used in HS. But I then went to the straddle as a soph and afterwards.

[marknhj]

An occasional poster on this board, suso2, is one of the world's leading experts on the biomechanics of high jumping. It will be interesting to hear his comments, particularly when we see the research trackdaddy mentioned.

With reference to head over height records: the record is shared by Franklin Jacobs and Stefan Holms at 59cms, and to date, 44 are at 50cms+. The two great straddlers, Brumel and Yashchenko, are tied at 43cms. An interesting piece of trivia is that only ten women have ever cleared 30cms+ over their head height. One of them is Jessica Ennis, the new world heptathlon champion.

You can find the lists on Holms site:

http://scholm.com/engstart.htm

[Per Andersen]

I think Steve is just too young to remember the Eastern cut-off.
Now, there was an elegant technique. Way more aesthetic than the straddle.
Dark day for the HJ when they allowed "diving" over the bar in the early 30's :lol:

Mark is right about the Soviets. Even after the East Germans had seen the light they kept on with the straddle, despite the success of their very early flopper Sapka.

I came from a roll/straddle background but when I saw Fosbury in Mexico in '68 it absolutely blew me away. Just the speed of the run and the great ease was something quite different. Remarkably, already the next year there were other floppers over 7ft.

In the SP I'm with Steve. Love watching Majewski stick it to the spinners.

[rainy.here]

Franklin Jacobs, 5'8, jumped 7'7.25, 23.25 inches above his head! :shock:

I believe Stefan Holm's 2.40 clearance is 59cm above his head, which is 23.23", which is really really close to 23.25".

I have always though two footed jumping should be allowed for high jump.

[Stafanitus]

hello.

a little add to the biomechanical discussion, according to the "center of mass superior flop"-issue. pictures and paintings are from/of Thomas Zacharias:


http://www.bse-heroldsbach.de/page50.htm

http://www.golf-tips.info/bilder/thomas-straddle.jpg

http://www.thomas-zacharias.de/images/h ... agramm.jpg

greetings.

[Pego]

I have always though two footed jumping should be allowed for high jump.

Obviously, I would never pretend to understand the biomechanics of jumping like some posters here (MarkN for example), but I cannot imagine a two-footed approach to come remotely close to the one-footer (in HJ or LJ or any other jump). Gymnasts don't jump, they bounce, divers don't need to get nearly the heighth or distance of jumpers.