Dick Fosbury
Olympic Gold Medalist, Track & Field
- Olympic Gold Medalist
- Two-time NCAA National Champion
Considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track & field, Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high jump as a high schooler when he developed a new technique that quickly became known as “the Fosbury Flop.” The Flop was developed during Fosbury’s high school years when he won the National Junior Champ meet. His signature technique was perfected at Oregon State University when Fosbury first cleared 7’ during the 1968 indoor season and became National Champion at the NCAAs in 1968 and 1969. He won the Gold Medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, breaking Olympic and American records. The Fosbury Flop has become the universal high jumping technique used by elite athletes globally.
Fosbury turned professional in 1973 and joined the International Track Association (ITA). He was elected to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1981, and then to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1992. He was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in 2010.
Fosbury is the former president and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the World Olympians Association. He is also Vice President of the United States Olympians Association. Fosbury is a retired licensed civil engineer and land surveyor who built a civil engineering firm in Ketchum, Idaho. A cancer survivor, he advocates a healthy and fit lifestyle.