Just a Fun Video for Track and Field Fans

I want to use this thread for all the fun little videos I find on Youtube and other sites.  Yes I'm nostalgic.

Ok looking at this video,  they don't look so roided out?  Hmmmm  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtmTQvyzs0A

I cried a as junior high novice sprinter that some Commie could beat Americans.

But there  was Dave Wottle...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtmTQvyzs0A

Mike Powell LJ Record.   Wow!  Think I have this on tape on a vhs tape somewhere in the garage,.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2fFZ8TSaTU

This is one of my favorites though kind of painful to watch at the end.  I really miss this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFty7To8oQk

I thought that if a high jumper exits under the bar after the jump that it is a DQ or at least not an accepted jump.  Is this not true?

Since the following were noted (visually identified on the video):
#6 Ivan Ukhov walked back under the bar starting at 2:57
#3 stefan Holm starting at 4:32
#1 Javier Sotomayor starting at 6:15 and 6:34

Late 80's were considered by many as the golden age of high jumping.  I was a HJ in HS and 2 years in college.  I had video tapes of Patrick and Xavier.  I was at the US Olympic Festival at OU in '89 when Hollis Conway set the American Record at the time of 7-10.  It was absolutely unreal.  I went to my HS track later and just put the bar up to his height and then up to Sotomayor's 8 feet.  Best I ever did was 6-8 in practice and then 6-6 in a meet.  I am and will always be in awe of them.

Nobody comes close today not only in talent but in how these guys are characters.  Man that was some fun times for a T&F geek like myself.

The second video is the same as the first.  The copy/paste didn't take for you and you pasted the first link again.

I jumped in HS in the late 70's........we were all just starting to "flop" and there still were many "rollers" at our meets. Dwight Stone was the man!  I held my High School record for 16 years until some kid came along and jumped 7-1 and obliterated my record of 6-6. 

I am attending HS track meets again since my son is  Freshman this year......I still find myself standing in front of the High Jump ring watchng those kids.  It has always intrigued me.

I was a "middle-distance" runner - 440, 880, the mile a couple of times, and 4 x 440 relay.  I'm still in the H.S. track honor list with my 880 time and as a team with the 4 x 440 relay.

I always go back and catch Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe battles, Eamonn Coghlan, Paavo Nurmi (the Flying Finn) videos.

But one of the most thrilling races to watch, to me, is Jesse Owens' 100 meter final (along with the long jump) in the 1936 Olympics.  How can anyone not appreciate what he accomplished considering the era?  A great man and athlete to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCmvDwDocrw

A poster of Jesse Owens in mid flight is one of many posters on the wall of our workout/bike room at our house.  Without a doubt, in that time and place at the Berlin Olympics, one of the greatest performances of all time.

I do not have the vertical leap many of my competitors had, but I was increcibly flexible and technical.  I could eek out another 1/2 an inch or more just by working on technique.  Anymore I'd be lucky if I could get over 5-6, mainly because I'm carrying close to 60lbs more than I was then.  I do love watching it too.  To me it is poetry in motion and just jaw dropping from an almost gravity defying aspect.

I was a HS high jumper.  Even went to state a couple times.  Cleared 6-6 a couple times.  High jump is probably the ONE thing that has a hidden/surprise talent in my life (I'm constantly looking for the next thing!).  I asked to be put in the event only after playing around with it in practice.  The coach was hesitant, but since we had an open spot...  I ended up winning it and asked the coach if I could do it again...  He was like, um YES...  Then I went on to win every gradeschool and 90% of all my high school meets.  (only to get killed at state - talk about some high flighers.  When the opening height it 6-2 and my best was 6-6, I knew it was going to be a short day).

I sort of thought that was the rule too.  After thinking about it I think the rule is if you exit the pit under the bar and hit it and it falls it's a failed jump.  So it was advised to avoid the bar area and leave towards the back.  These guys have a couple feet of clearance!

It's still amazing to look at a volleyball net (which is 8' - men's) and think there is someone that can jump over that.

Maybe because it was my sport, but a good high jump with great form is so amazing/graceful.  Poll vault is amazing to watch too.

There is a new commercial that has Fosberry changing the sport, and it gives me chills.  Imagine doing that awkward looking front roll then see someone bust out that graceful jump-over-backwards move?  It would have been shocking to see.

http://www.usatf.org/groups/officials/files/resources/field-events/officiating-the-vertical-jumps-usatf-monograph.pdf

I think you hit it here.  If, by exiting the mat, you bump the standard or bar and it falls, it is a fault.  Therefore most coaches probably just told jumpers it would be a fault if they did so to get them to exit from the back.  I'm pretty certain mine did.

I do remember a guy that jumped in HS that literally went straight up and came straight down, but cleared the darn bar (would literally wrap around the thing).  He then could just sit on the edge of the mat under the bar, stand up and walk away.  He was never faulted.  Craziest thing I've ever seen.  Once, he actually cleated his back with the spikes. 

I find the high jump one of the most entertaining events to watch in track.  Personally, by Spring, I was tired from Football and our powerlifting team so in the Spring I would treat myself to shot, discus and javelin.  Unfortunately, despite having a great track coach, we had a fill-in for a field coach.  I ended up going to the library and learning how to throw on my own.  My coach allowed me to take a javeling home for the summer.  The HS record was the oldest in the school and I told him I would break it.  I ended up breaking it 3 times my senior year.  It was at a district meet and I think the extra adrenaline helped.

Very cool to hear that you went to your state high jump, and TWICE!  Nice job, Kido!

I absolutely LOF v-ball and enjoyed playing some "A" level competition until the hip socket started bothering me due to age and lateral movement hinderance.

Yep.  I've seen that too.

I also was at a meet that was fairly windy.  Hardly anyone could get past the opening jump because evertime they went over, even if it was by quite a bit, the standard blew off.  They finally got a clue, had someone stand very close to it and only if you completely cleared with without touching it and it blew off would they be ok.  If they barely touched it, then it was a fault. 

That same meet, someone went up and was actually blown back towards the bar and landed smack dab on top of it.  Talk about painful.

And finally, VERY early in my career, there was a meet I went to where the pit was a huge mesh bag full of giant sponges.  The bag was, at max, only about 2 feet high.  Probably closer to 1 foot.  Coming down 5 feet from a 6 foot HJ was interesting.  Felt like you would never land.  And went you did, most of the time the sponges parted and you essentially landed on the ground.  I hated that meet.

I love science.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/high-jump-physics-video-athletes-center-mass_n_2911308.html

Great explaination of the how's behind it.