during the
standing high jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics The first recorded high jump event took place in Scotland in the 19th century. Early jumpers used either an elaborate straight-on approach or a
scissors technique. In later years, the bar was approached diagonally, and the jumper threw first the inside leg and then the other over the bar in a scissoring motion. Around the turn of the 20th century, techniques began to change, beginning with the Irish-American
Michael Sweeney's Eastern cut-off as a variation of the scissors technique. By taking off as in the scissors method, extending his spine and flattening out over the bar, Sweeney raised the world record to in 1895. Even in 1948,
John Winter of Australia won the gold medal of the
1948 London Olympics with this style. Besides, one of the most successful female high jumpers,
Iolanda Balaș of Romania, used this style to dominate women's high jump for about 10 years until her retirement in 1967. Another American,
George Horine, developed an even more efficient technique, the
Western roll. In this style, the bar again is approached on a diagonal, but the inner leg is used for the take-off, while the outer leg is thrust up to lead the body sideways over the bar. Horine increased the world standard to in 1912. His technique was predominant through the
1936 Berlin Olympics, in which the event was won by
Cornelius Johnson at . American and Soviet jumpers were the most successful for the next four decades, and they pioneered the
straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll but rotated their torso, belly-down, around the bar, obtaining the most efficient and highest clearance up to that time. Straddle jumper
Charles Dumas was the first to clear 7 feet (2.13 m), in 1956. American
John Thomas pushed the world mark to in 1960.
Valeriy Brumel of the Soviet Union took over the event for the next four years, radically speeding up his approach run. He took the record up to and won the gold medal of the
1964 Tokyo Olympics, before a motorcycle accident in 1965 ended his career. of Canada
scissors over the bar at the
1928 Summer Olympics. Her winning result was . Coaches from the United States, such as a two-time
NCAA champion Frank Costello of the
University of Maryland, traveled to Russia to learn from Brumel and his coaches like
Vladimir Dyachkov. However, it would be a solitary innovator at
Oregon State University,
Dick Fosbury, who would bring the high jump into the next century. Taking advantage of the raised, softer, artificially-cushioned landing areas that were in use by then, Fosbury added a new twist to the outmoded Eastern cut-off. He directed himself over the bar head and shoulders first, going over on his back and landing in a fashion that would likely have resulted in serious injury in the old ground-level landing pits, which were usually filled with sawdust or sand mixtures. Around the same time,
Debbie Brill independently came up with the same technique, which she called the 'Brill Bend'. Since Fosbury used his new style, called the
Fosbury flop, to win the gold medal of the
1968 Mexico Olympics, its use spread quickly, and soon "floppers" were dominating international high jump competitions. The first flopper setting a world record was the American
Dwight Stones, who cleared in 1973. In the female side, the 16-year-old flopper
Ulrike Meyfarth from West Germany won the gold medal of the
1972 Munich Olympics at , which tied the women's world record at that time (held by the Austrian straddler
Ilona Gusenbauer a year before). However, it was not until 1978 when a flopper,
Sara Simeoni of Italy, broke the women's world record. Successful high jumpers following Fosbury's lead also included the rival of Dwight Stones, -tall
Franklin Jacobs of Paterson, New Jersey, who cleared , over his head (a feat equalled 27 years later by
Stefan Holm of Sweden); Chinese record-setters
Ni-chi Chin and
Zhu Jianhua; Germans
Gerd Wessig and
Dietmar Mögenburg; Swedish Olympic medalist and former world record holder
Patrik Sjöberg; female jumpers
Ulrike Meyfarth of West Germany and
Sara Simeoni of Italy. In spite of this, the straddle technique did not disappear at once. In 1977, the 18-year-old Soviet straddler
Vladimir Yashchenko set a new world record . In 1978, he raised the record to , and indoor, just before a knee injury effectively ended his career when he was only 20 years old. In the female side, the straddler
Rosemarie Ackermann of East Germany, who was the first female jumper ever to clear , raised the world record from to during 1974 to 1977. In fact, from 2 June 1977 to 3 August 1978, almost 10 years after Fosbury's success, the men's and women's world records were still held by straddle jumpers Yashchenko and Ackermann respectively. However, they were the last world record holders using the straddle technique. Ackermann also won the gold medal of the
1976 Montreal Olympics, which was the last time for a straddle jumper (male or female) to win an Olympic medal. In 1980, the Polish flopper, 1976 Olympic gold medalist
Jacek Wszoła, broke Yashchenko's world record at . Two years before, the female Italian flopper
Sara Simeoni, the long-term rival of Ackermann, broke Ackermann's world record at and became the first female flopper to break the women's world record. She also won the gold medal of the
1980 Moscow Olympics, where Ackermann placed fourth. Since then, the flop style has been completely dominant. All other techniques were almost extinct in serious high jump competitions after late 1980s. ==Technical aspects==