1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics High Jump Gold Medal Awarded to Dick Fosbury from The Dick Fosbury Collection....

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The most important high jump artifact that exists!

1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics High Jump Gold Medal Awarded to Dick Fosbury from The Dick Fosbury Collection. Widely and properly considered one of the most influential athletes in millennia of track and field history, Dick Fosbury revolutionized the high jump event so completely that his namesake "Fosbury Flop" quickly became--and remains to this day--the standard technique utilized globally. The method emerged as he experimented with jumping styles during his high school training in Portland, Oregon, seeking a more effective way to gain height. Unlike previous techniques such as the straddle or scissors, Fosbury's approach involved jumping headfirst with his back to the bar and arching over it in a curved motion. This allowed for a higher center of gravity and better bar clearance.

The new methodology was not just revolutionary but also somewhat dangerous, as the landing pits for the high jump in these days were typically pits of sand or sawdust, since the straddle technique resulted in athletes landing on their feet. Foam rubber gradually replaced those antiquated substances, but Fosbury compressed a couple vertebrae in the mid-1960's during a track meet at a school that couldn't afford the upgrade. Luckily, he was able to recover and continue his singular path toward glory and fame.

Fosbury refined the technique at Oregon State University and brought it to international attention during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where he won Gold and set an Olympic record as the only contestant to clear 2.24 meters (7 feet, 3 3/8 inches). That would stand as Fosbury's career-best height. Presented is the Gold Medal awarded to Dick Fosbury for that world-beating leap, a relic that few high jump enthusiasts would deny is the single most important in the history of the sport.

The medal features a seated victory figure holding a laurel wreath and palm branch at obverse, with the Coliseum in the background below raised text reporting, "XIX Olimpiada Mexico 1968." Verso is a victorious athlete being carried shoulder-high. A small plaque is linked directly above, with a track shoe icon at obverse and engraved text on verso reading "salto de altura varonil" [translation: men's high jump]. The original green ribbon is threaded through a loop at the top of that plaque. Medal is sixty millimeters (60 mm.) in diameter and weighs 125 grams. Minor handling wear and soiling is apparent--no attempt has been made to clean either the medal or the ribbon, nor is any such effort necessary.

This is the anchoring artifact of The Dick Fosbury Collection, with the bulk of the balance of that collection appearing in Session Two of this Platinum Night event. Letter of provenance from widow of Dick Fosbury.