The Physics of High Jumping
In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a relatively unknown high jumper called Dick Fosbury won a Gold Medal and shattered the Olympic Record in the process. He achieved this using a radical technique, rolling backwards over the bar in a ’flop’, rather than a scissors kick over the bar.
This is now the preferred technique of almost every competative jumper today, and its effectiveness lies in the fact that the athlete’s CoM is kept as low as possible, while still clearing the bar (below the main part of the torso). In jumps that just clear the bar, the CoM actually passes under the bar while the jumper goes over !!