Clueless writing about our sport

[jc203]

Surfers would call Lonewolf a "Goofy Foot".

[lonewolf]

I am right handed and must be exclusively right footed.. I never flopped but straddled off right foot, long jumped and preferred hop off right foot (results about the same whichever foot I started with).. but wanted left foot forward in starting blocks.. dunno if that is right footed or ???.

[dukehjsteve]

I'm a total Lefty ( except golf) and as is indirectly stated above, we lefties use/used our right leg for takeoff.

[Atticus]

"jumping off his right leg" . . . including Fosbury himself.

That REALLY threw me when I spent the winter of 68/69 teaching myself the flop. I assumed that right-handers were SUPPOSED to approach from the left and wasted two weeks trying to do that before it dawned on me that I was a left-footed jumper like MOST right-handers are. Once I switched it was clear sailing. The one thing that really helped me was a narrow avenue of approach indoors, so I had to turn sharply at the end, which forced me to have the correct lean - away from the bar. By the time we got outdoors in late March, I was pretty close to F's form, and had improved my HJ PR by over 6". I got lots of odd stares, but I was winning, so that was fine.

[jc203]

Just blundered onto this jewel in the Wiki entry for Igor Paklin:
"Like all modern high jumpers, Paklin used the Fosbury Flop style, and he was the first to do so jumping off his right leg."

So true... except for maybe a million others including Fosbury himself.

[Master403]

I'm sure it was a typo that wasn't proofread. I just contacted Jill Geer at USATF to get it corrected

.
Thank you. She has corrected the article.

I should note that other than the one glaring error, this was a well-written piece about a remarkable individual. I recommend it to anyone who is unfamiliar with Mr Douglas's story.

[bambam1729]

I'm sure it was a typo that wasn't proofread. I just contacted Jill Geer at USATF to get it corrected

[KDFINE]

I would agree that putting 24.9m rather than 24'9" is a simple error that might have been missed in proofreading in a local newspaper.
But someone at USATF then took that 24.9m and converted it (incorrectly) to 81'1.5". To me, that process, during which it didn't register that 81 feet made no sense, elevates it above missed typo.

Make no mistake, I totally agree with you.

[Master403]

Probably a typo that wasn't proof read.

I would agree that putting 24.9m rather than 24'9" is a simple error that might have been missed in proofreading in a local newspaper.
But someone at USATF then took that 24.9m and converted it (incorrectly) to 81'1.5". To me, that process, during which it didn't register that 81 feet made no sense, elevates it above missed typo.

[KDFINE]

Probably a typo that wasn't proof read.

[Master403]

This probably wouldn't be notable, except that it is from a USATF news release.

http://www.usatf.org/News/Herb-Dougl...can-Olymp.aspx

"At the 1948 London Olympic Games, Douglas clinched bronze with a jump of 81-1.5/24.9m."

No mention of any injuries on the landing.

[Conor Dary]

I just watched the video and read the comments. "Fortunately" there were more than enough comments from the public on this page pointing out that the posters comments were clueless.

Indeed...most of the comments point out the correct facts.

[KDFINE]

I just watched the video and read the comments. "Fortunately" there were more than enough comments from the public on this page pointing out that the posters comments were clueless.

[Atticus]

This isn't journalism per se, just a clip that was put on a FB page and that's supposed to be motivational, but the captions are incredibly clueless given that the guy went into the race as a co-WR holder and favorite:
https://www.facebook.com/roadmapstor...4594484676488/

That was way past clueless; that was insulting to Wottle and the entire sport. Some of the viral sh*t I see on Facebook, esp. the dramatic stories which Snopes debunked YEARS ago, truly make me lose faith in humanity.

During the election, a 'friend' of mine (I won't say on which side) would send out posts purporting to out a scandalous secret, NONE of which were true. Sigh.

[Powell]

This isn't journalism per se, just a clip that was put on a FB page and that's supposed to be motivational, but the captions are incredibly clueless given that the guy went into the race as a co-WR holder and favorite:

https://www.facebook.com/roadmapstor...4594484676488/