CNN
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Dick Fosbury, legendary Olympic gold excessive jumper who revolutionized the monitor and subject occasion, died Sunday of lymphoma, in response to his publicist Ray Schulte. Fosbury was 76.
“It’s with a really heavy coronary heart I’ve to launch the information that longtime buddy and consumer Dick Fosbury handed away peacefully in his sleep early Sunday morning after a brief bout with a recurrence of lymphoma,” Schulte wrote on Instagram on Monday.
Fosbury showcased his signature approach – the favored “Fosbury Flop” – the place he threw himself again first over the bar within the excessive soar on the 1968 Mexico Metropolis Video games. Fosbury broke the Olympic and US information with a soar of two.24 meters to earn the gold medal.
At Oregon State College, Fosbury gained the NCAA indoor and outside championships in 1968 utilizing the “flop.”
The USA Monitor and Discipline and Group USA supplied their condolences to the game legend.
“I’m deeply saddened by the passing of Dick Fosbury, a real legend and pioneer on the earth of monitor and subject. Dick’s modern strategy of the ‘Fosbury Flop’ revolutionized the excessive soar occasion and eternally modified the game,” Max Siegel, CEO of USA Monitor & Discipline mentioned in an announcement. “His gold medal victory on the 1968 Mexico Metropolis Olympics not solely cemented his place in U.S. Olympic historical past, but in addition left an indelible mark on the worldwide athletic group. We are going to all the time be pleased about his contributions to the game and his affect on generations of athletes who adopted in his footsteps.”
Group USA added: “He was actually an Olympic pioneer and legend. Group USA pays tribute to Fosbury’s exceptional life and enduring legacy.”
Fosbury was inducted into the Nationwide Monitor and Discipline Corridor of Fame in 1981 and the US Olympic Corridor of Fame in 1992.
He’s survived by his spouse, Robin Tomasi; son, Erich Fosbury; stepdaughters Stephanie Thomas-Phipps and Kristin Thompson.