Men's world high jump record smashed...

[Rudi]

Themen's world high jump record is currently held by Javier Sotomayor from Cuba and it currently stands at an amazing 2.45m or (8.03 ft). However, this is the traditional high jump one sees at athletic events. There does not seem to be any rules regarding HOW the jump needs to take place so I have often wondered of a gymnast could do a tumble process to get over the bar. In gymnastics these gymnasts seem to get great heights at the final flick and land. This has been emphasized by this incredible tumble by this gymnast. Scroll to about 0:40 seconds into the video! The final flick I guess would be at about 3.5 meters?? Now if he did this at an athletics event and got over the bar at 3.5 meters, would that be considered a valid record? As I said, he is a human, and if there is no "rules" that determine "how" the jump must take place...then surely this would qualify as a jump?? Interesting!

Yep...that is a guy at the top of the final part of his tumble...

1.jpg

[HansV]

I'd say a bit less, but still impressive.

[steveh]

Hi Rudi

I always thought I was weird pondering the very same thing but it does occur to me that if there was a standard way of jumping then Dick Fosbury's successful flop would have been illegal.

Wikipedia States that these are the rules

"A jump is considered a failure if the bar is dislodged by the action of the jumper whilst jumping or the jumper touches the ground or breaks the plane of the near edge of the bar before clearance . The technique one uses for the jump must be almost flawless in order to have a chance of clearing a high bar.

Competitors may begin jumping at any height announced by the chief judge, or may pass, at their own discretion. Three consecutive missed jumps, at any height or combination of heights, will eliminate the jumper from competition.

The victory goes to the jumper who clears the greatest height during the final. If two or more jumpers tie for first place, the tie-breakers are: 1) The fewest misses at the height at which the tie occurred; and 2) The fewest misses throughout the competition.

If the event remains tied, the jumpers have a jump-off, beginning at the next greater height. Each jumper has one attempt. The bar is then alternately lowered and raised until only one jumper succeeds at a given height."

So the only reason I can see why it wouldn't count would be perhaps that the first jump must be counted, to achieve the heights you mention is probably after a series of flick flaks each one getting higher, but still impressive

[Rudi]

I too was reviewing which ever rules there were to high jump and the only rule regarding "technique" I came across was that the jump must be made off one leg. If this IS the case, then the flick flack could be quite difficult to make!

TX for the comments!

[stuck]

Isn't there some sort of limit to the length of the run up? If so, that too would probably prevent this sort of technique.

Ken

[Rudi]

There is no rule on the length of a run up, but there is of course a limit to the area that is used on the inside area of the track. I doubt it would be any smaller than the square area used in the routines of a typical gymnastic floor routine.

[ChrisGreaves]

... Yep...that is a guy at the top of the final part of his tumble...

The physics is fascinating.
I think that he uses the long run up to build horizontal kinetic energy, then converts that into rotational energy, and uses that with friction to convert his rotational energy into a vertical component of kinetic energy.
Of course, I'm no engineer ...

[Rudi]

That sounds about right

High jump is the same...it's all about converting that horizontal speed into a vertical liftoff. I did high jump in my day and the highest I jumped was 1.92...(still proud of that jump). I can remember that the faster my run-up was the more lift I was able to generate. The trick though is that you have to work out the best distance away from the crossbar that your take off must be. If you are too close the excess horizontal motion drives you into the crossbar, and if you are too far, you come down on top of the bar. Its ALL in the distance from the crossbar that you need to jump...if you can work that out, you can get the maximum height!

[ChrisGreaves]

That sounds about right

Sorry! let me try again ...

[Doc Watson]

That sounds about right

High jump is the same...it's all about converting that horizontal speed into a vertical liftoff. I did high jump in my day and the highest I jumped was 1.92...(still proud of that jump). I can remember that the faster my run-up was the more lift I was able to generate. The trick though is that you have to work out the best distance away from the crossbar that your take off must be. If you are too close the excess horizontal motion drives you into the crossbar, and if you are too far, you come down on top of the bar. Its ALL in the distance from the crossbar that you need to jump...if you can work that out, you can get the maximum height!

Seems I dropped in at an opportune moment as I too used to jump back in my high school days. That was back when the men's record was held by John Thomas & Valari Brummel at a pedestrian 7 ft and 7' 4" respectively. Both they and I used the western roll technique. My last jump in 1967 was 6 ft even. I am 5' 10". That's a jump that I am quite proud of as well. I don't know what your age or technique was at the time Rudi, but 1.92 M or 6' 3" is a respectable jump by any amature or schoolboy !!! Good job !!!

And, you are correct, the only rule is that you must jump off one leg. The gymnasts amost always takeoff using both legs to get that height.

Cheers All.

[Rudi]

Hi Doc, nice to hear from you again, and thx for the "congrats". I can say the same for you, based on the sentence below.

Before I give the stats for that 1.92m jump, let me just say IMHO (and as an amateur), any jump that one makes that is higher than ones own head is quite an accomplishment.

Stats on my jump:
-- I was 17 yrs old and approx 1.80m tall back then (my current height is 1.82m)
-- It was in a provincial high schools athletics competition (I just missed out on the record of 1.93m at the time )
-- I used the Fosbury Flop technique
-- I quite athletics after high school

[GeoffW]

You were quite athletics while you were at school as well.

[Rudi]

I'm not getting this pun...?

[HansV]

In your previous reply, you wrote "I quite athletics" instead of "I quit athletics". Geoff is not one to let that go unnoticed...

[Rudi]

gotcha!!
I WISH I was quite athletics right now, but sadly I do not do much jumping anymore...unlike Mr G. on his birthday!