Saying Goodbye To Dick Fosbury

The first time I heard the story of Dick Fosbury, it was the year 2000 in Sydney and I had landed a ticket to the Athletics competition in the big stadium. Amidst the organized chaos of track and field events, I noticed the curious technique of the high jump. Every competitor ran to the bar and jumped over it ... backwards. The first athlete to pioneer this technique was American Olympian Dick Fosbury.

An engineer by training, in 1968 he developed his own unique style for jumping over the high bar that stunned audiences. The method would come to be known as the "Fosbury Flop" and inspired generations of competitors to use the same technique to set new world records. He won gold in 1968 and became legendary for his idea. I have used this story of the Fosbury Flop in my keynote presentations for years as the perfect example of seeing what everyone else misses and blazing your own path.

Fosbury has sadly passed away at the age of 76, leaving his mark on a sport that was transformed by his non-obvious approach. So in honor of his career and insight, I'm sharing his story here as a reminder for all of us that sometimes the only way to jump higher than anyone else is to ignore tradition, silence your critics and just do it backwards.