The greatest flop in history
We might see Yelena Isinbayeva adding a few centimetres to her pole vault record and we might see, thanks to their LZR Racer suits, American and Australian swimmers shaving a few microseconds off their world records in the Beijing Games, but we won't see anything like what spectators at the Olympics in Mexico City witnessed in 1968. Then, Dick Fosbury didn't just win the high jump gold medal, he changed the discipline forever by propelling himself over the bar head and shoulders first, sliding over on his back and landing in a way that would likely have broken his neck in the old days. Soon, floppers came to dominate high jumping and now there is no other approach.
The amazing thing is that the sport began to stagnate two decades after Fosbury flopped. Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria has held the women's world record since 1987 (2.09 metres) and Javier Sotomayor of Cuba set the men's record with 2.45 metres in 1993. Anyway, let the games begin!
Meanwhile, Mao Kelly has decided to buy a new identity in the latest episode of Think or Swim.
