In the early 1960s, Dick Fosbury tried his hand at almost every sport, but never excelled at anything, until, at the age of 16, he turned to the high jump. But when he couldn't compete against the strong athletes at his college using the standard high jump techniques of the time, Fosbury tried to jump a different way: backwards. Instead of jumping with his face towards the bar, bringing each leg over in the traditional straddle method, he jumped with his back towards the bar. Fosbury improved his record by over half a foot, and left his coaches amazed by this strange new style of high jumping. During the next few years, Fosbury perfected his high jump style, won the U.S. National trials, and assured his place in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. In the Olympic Games, Fosbury amazed the world with his new technique, winning a gold metal with an Olympic record leap of 2.24 meters. By the next Olympic Games, almost all of the competing of high jumpers had adopted what came to be known as the Fosbury Flop. What's the secret behind the technique? It lies in a physics concept called the center of mass. For every object, we can locate the average position of all of its mass by taking into account how the mass is spread around the object. For instance, the center of mass of a flat, rectangular object of uniform density will be in the intersection of both diagonals, in equal distance from each corner. We can find the center of mass for other objects by similar calculations, or by finding the object's balancing point, which lies right underneath its center of mass. Try balancing a broom by holding it and slowly bringing your hands together until they meet. This balancing point lies right underneath the broom's center of mass. We humans also have a center of mass. When most people stand up, their center of mass is around the belly, but what happens to your center of mass when you lift your hands in the air? Your center of mass moves upwards. It moves all the time as you move through the day, based on how your body is positioned. It can even move outside of your body. When you bend forward, your center of mass is located below your bent belly in a place where there is no mass at all. Weird to think about, but that's the average position of all your mass. Many objects' center of mass are outside their bodies. Think of doughnuts or boomerangs. Now look at the Fosbury Flop, and follow the position of the center of mass of the jumper. The jumper runs very fast, so he can divert his horizontal velocity to vertical velocity, and jumps. Wait for it...there. Look at the jumper's center of mass as his body bends backward. It's below the bar. That is the secret behind the jump. With the old, pre-Fosbury techniques, the jumper had to apply enough force to lift his center of mass above the bar by a few inches in order to clear it. The Fosbury Flopper doesn't have to do that. The genius of the Fosbury Flop is that the jumper can apply the same amount of force, but raise his body much higher than before. That means he can raise the bar so high that even when his center of mass can't go any higher, his arching body can. Fosbury's technique brought the high jump to new heights by splitting the jumper's body away from his center of mass, giving it that much more room to clear higher and higher bars. So the Fosbury Flop may be sports history's only great leap forward, that is also a great leap backward.
Ranih šezdesetih, Dik Fozberi se oprobao u skoro svim sportovima, ali se ni u čemu nije isticao dok se, u šesnaestoj godini, niije okrenuo skoku uvis. Ali pošto nije uspevao da parira jakim sportistima na koledžu koristeći standardne tehnike tog vremena za skok uvis, Fozberi je probao da skače drugačije: unazad. Umesto da skače licem prema letvici, prebacujući noge preko tradicionalnom metodom opkoračenja, skakao je leđima okrenutim prema letvici. Fozberi je poboljšao svoj rekord za više od 15 cm i oduševio trenere ovim neobičnim novim stilom skoka uvis. Tokom sledećih par godina. Fozberi je usavršio svoj stil skoka, osvojio nacionalno izborno takmičenje u SAD-u i osigurao svoje mesto na Olimpijadi u Meksiku 1968. Na Olimpijskim igrama, Fozberi je zadivio svet svojom novom tehnikom, osvojivši zlatnu medalju sa olimpijskim rekordom od 2,24 m. Do sledećih Olimpijskih igara, skoro svi takmičari u skoku uvis su usvojili tehniku koja je postala poznata kao Fozberi flop. U čemu je tajna ove tehnike? Ona leži u fizičkom pojmu zvanom centar mase. Za svaki predmet možemo da nađemo centralnu tačku celokupne njegove mase, tako što uzmemo u obzir kako je ta masa u njemu raspoređena. Na primer, centar mase ravnog pravougaonog predmeta ujednačene gustine biće na preseku dijagonala, na podjednakoj udaljenosti od svakog ugla. Možemo da nađemo centar mase i za druge predmete pomoću sličnih proračuna ili nalaženjem tačke ravnoteže predmeta, koja se nalazi odmah ispod njegovog centra mase. Probajte da držite metlu tako što je uhvatite i polako pomerate ruke jednu prema drugoj dok se ne sretnu. Tačka ravnoteže se nalazi tačno ispod centra mase metle. Mi, ljudi, takođe imamo centar mase. Kod većine ljudi, kada stoje, ovaj centar je oko stomaka, ali šta se dešava sa vašim centrom mase kada podignete ruke uvis? Vaš centar mase se pomera nagore. Stalno se pomera kako se vi pomerate u toku dana, zavisno od pozicije vašeg tela. Čak može da se pomeri i van vašeg tela. Kada se nagnete napred, vaš centar mase se nalazi ispod vašeg povijenog stomaka. na mestu gde uopšte ne postoji masa. Čudno je kad se pomisli, ali to je centralna tačka vaše celokupne mase. Centar mase mnogih stvari je van njihovog tela. Pomislite na krofne ili bumerange. Sad pogledajte Fozeri flop i pratite poziciju centra mase skakača. Skakač trči jako brzo, da bi mogao da preusmeri svoje horizontalno ubrzanje u vertikalno, i da skoči. Obratite pažnju...evo ga. Pogledajte skakačev centar mase dok mu se telo naginje unazad. Nalazi se ispod letvice. U ovome je tajna ovog skoka. Sa starom tehnikom pre Fozberijeve, skakač je morao da uloži dovoljno snage da podigne centar mase iznad letvice za nekoliko centimentara da bi je izbegao. Fozberi floper ne mora to da radi. Genijalnost Fozberi flopa je u tome što skakač može da uloži istu količinu snage, ali da pritom izdigne telo više nego pre. Ovo znači da može da podigne letvicu tako visoko da čak i kad njegov centar mase ne može da se podigne više, njegovo izvijeno telo može. Fozberijeva tehnika je donela nove visine skoku uvis tako što je odvojila telo skakača od njegovog centra mase, dajući više prostora da se preskoče sve veće i veće visine. Tako da je Fozberi flop možda jedini veliki skok unapred u istoriji sporta, koji je istovremeno i skok unazad.