Dick Fosbury, the lanky leaper who revamped the technical discipline of high jump and won an Olympic gold medal with his “Fosbury Flop,” died on Sunday last week. He was 76.
Before Fosbury, many high jumpers cleared their heights by running parallel to the bar, then using a straddle kick to leap over before landing with their faces pointed downward. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Fosbury took off at an angle, leaped backward, bent himself into a “J” shape to catapult his 6-foot-4 frame over the bar, then crashed headfirst into the landing pit.
It was a convention-defying move, and with the world watching, Fosbury cleared 2.24 meters to win the gold and set an Olympic record. By the next Olympics, 28 of the 40 jumpers were using Fosbury’s technique. The Montreal Games in 1976 marked the last Olympics in which a high jumper won using a technique other than the Fosbury Flop.
Photo: AP 照片:美聯社
Over time, Fosbury’s move became about more than simply high jumping. It is often used by business leaders and university professors as a study in innovation and willingness to take chances and break the mold.
“It’s literally genius,” said 2012 Olympic high jump champion Erik Kynard Jr. “And it takes huge courage, obviously. And took huge courage at the time to even consider something so dangerous. Due to the equipment then, it was something that was a little on edge to attempt.”
Fosbury started tinkering with a new technique in the early ‘60s, as a teenager at Medford High School in Oregon. Among his discoveries was a need to move his takeoff point farther back for higher jumps, so he could change the apex of the parabola shape of his jump to clear the bar. Most traditional jumpers of that day planted a foot and took off from the same spot regardless of the height they were attempting.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons 照片:維基共享資源
“I knew I had to change my body position, and that’s what started first the revolution, and over the next two years, the evolution,” Fosbury said in a 2014 interview with The Corvallis Gazette-Times. “During my junior year, I carried on with this new technique, and each meet I continued to evolve or change, but I was improving. My results were getting better.”
The technique was the subject of scorn and ridicule in some corners. The term Fosbury Flop is credited to the Medford Mail-Tribune, which wrote the headline “Fosbury Flops Over the Bar” after one of his high school meets. The reporter wrote that Fosbury looked like a fish flopping in a boat.
(AP)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons 照片:維基共享資源
迪克.福斯貝利,這位瘦長的跳高運動員已於上週日去世,享壽76歲。他改造了跳高的技術訓練,並以其「福斯貝利跳」贏得奧運金牌。
在福斯貝利之前,許多跳高運動員採用的過竿技巧是以平行角度跑向橫竿,然後跨腿跳過去,面朝下之後著墊。在1968年墨西哥城奧運中,福斯貝利以一個角度起跳,向後一躍,將身體彎曲成「J」字形,將他6呎4吋的身軀彈射過竿,然後頭朝下墜入跳高墊。
這是個違反慣例的動作,在全世界的注視下,福斯貝利跳出了2.24公尺的成績,贏得金牌並創下奧運紀錄。到了下一屆奧運會,40名跳高選手中有28人採用了福斯貝利的技巧。1976年的蒙特婁奧運為跳高選手以福斯貝利跳以外之技巧獲勝的最後一屆奧運。
Photo: AP 照片:美聯社
漸漸地,福斯貝利的作為變得不僅僅只是跳高;它常被商業領袖和大學教授用作創新及願意冒險和打破常規的研究對象。
「這簡直就是天才」,2012年奧運跳高冠軍小艾瑞克‧凱納德說。「這顯然需要很大的勇氣。光是想到要做這危險的事都是勇氣十足。鑒於當時的設備,嘗試這樣跳有點令人提心吊膽」。
福斯貝利在60年代初開始琢磨一項新技巧,那時他還是青少年,在美國奧勒岡州梅德福唸高中。他其中一個發現是,若要跳更高,需要將起跳點向後移,這樣就可以改變他跳躍的拋物線頂點的位置來過竿。當時大多數傳統的跳高選手都會在同一個點踩地起跳,無論其試跳高度為何。
Photo: Wikimedia Commons 照片:維基共享資源
福斯貝利在2014年接受科瓦利斯報訪問時說:「我知道我必須改變身體姿勢,這開啟了革命,以及之後兩年的演變」。「我在大三時繼續使用這新技巧,每次比賽我都繼續成長或改變,但我在進步。我的成績越來越好」。
這項技術在某些地方成為輕蔑和嘲笑的對象。「福斯貝利跳」(Fosbury Flop,字面意為「福斯貝利撲騰」)一詞源自梅德福論壇郵報,該報在福斯貝利一次高中比賽後下了標題「Fosbury Flops Over the Bar」(福斯貝利撲騰過竿)。記者寫道,福斯貝利看起來就像船上一條撲騰的魚。
(台北時報林俐凱編譯)
A: Yet another shopping mall has just opened in Taipei. B: Do you mean the Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Nangang? A: Yeah, the shopping mall run by Japanese Mitsui & Co. opened last week. B: I hear the mall features about 300 stores, Vieshow Cinemas and Japanese Lopia supermarket. A: With the opening, a war is breaking out between Taipei’s department stores. A: 台北又有新的購物商場可逛啦。 B: 你是說Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport 南港? A: 對啊這家日本三井集團旗下的商場上週開幕。 B: 聽說商場有威秀影城、樂比亞日系超市,還有多達300家專櫃。 A: 新商場一開幕,看來又要掀起一場百貨大戰啦! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張迪)
A: Hey, didn’t you go to the opening of the Mitsui Shopping Park LaLaport Nangang last week? B: Yeah, there are about 300 shops, including the first overseas branch of Japan’s Mahou Dokoro — a famous Harry Potter-themed store. A: Wow, I’ve always wanted to get a magic wand. B: There are also a bunch of great restaurants, such as Smart Fish hotpot restaurant. A: I wish I had Harry Potter’s “apparition” and “disapparition” magic, so I could teleport to the mall right now. A: 你上週不是有去LaLaport南港的盛大開幕嗎?有什麼特別的? B: 那裡有多達300家專櫃,包括魔法之地的海外首店——它可是日本知名的《哈利波特》專賣店。 A: 哇我一直想買根魔杖。 B: 另外還有各式各樣的美食,像是林聰明沙鍋魚頭。 A: 真希望我也有哈利波特的「現影術/消影術」魔法,能瞬間移動到商場去! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張迪)
When it comes to movies, some people delight in watching spine-chilling horror films. Surprisingly, apart from containing a few scares, horror movies may also offer an unexpected __1__. According to a study, watching 90 minutes of a scary movie can burn an average of 113 calories, which is roughly __2__ to taking a 30-minute walk. Researchers from the University of Westminster carried out an experiment in which they __3__ participants’ oxygen intake, carbon dioxide output, and heart rates while they were watching horror movies without any distractions. The results revealed that physiological responses to fear play a crucial role
Dos & Don’ts — 想想看,這句話英語該怎麼說? 1. 你覺得這部電影怎樣? ˇ What do you think of the movie? χ How do you like the movie? χ How do you think of the movie? 註︰What do you think of = What is your opinion of。 think 的受詞是 what,不能用 how。 2. 你認為哪一個歌星唱得最好? ˇ Which singer do you think is the best? χ Do you think which singer is the best? 註︰英語中 which singer 似乎是 do you think 的受詞,實則 do you think 是插入語,其他例子如下: 你以為他喜歡誰? Who do you think he likes? 你以為我住在哪裏? Where do you think I live? 你想我昨天在公園裏碰到了誰? Whom/Who do you think I met in the park yesterday? 3. 他不論到什麼地方,總是帶著一把雨傘。 ˇ No matter where he goes, he