The influence of touchdown conditions on high jumping performance

Thirty years after Dick Fosbury's triumph at the Mexico Olympic Games the Fosbury flop remains the sole technique used by the world's high jumping elite. The introduction of the flop technique was the most recent landmark in the technical evolution of the high jump. Much speculation has concerned the optimum high jumping technique. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of approach parameters on jump height performance, and to determine the optimum approach parameters for an elite male high jumper. This was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. [Continues.]