When Dick Fosbury won the 1968 Olympic gold medal in the high jump, he did so by jumping all wrong.
Instead of slicing his legs through the air to get over the crossbar without knocking it over, he went headfirst and upside down, arching his back over the bar. Coaches pleaded with him to adjust his technique. Peers and competitors teased him. And yet Fosbury held firm. At age 21, he’d spent years studying and perfecting this style, and the soon-to-be engineer believed using the weight of his head against his center of gravity made the most sense.
Today, the "Fosbury Flop" is the standard method used by elite high jumpers, and it’s hard to imagine another sport so drastically changed by a single, radical performance. Fosbury died in March 2023 after battling lymphoma, and with a movie about his life on the horizon, his widow, Robin Tomasi, began to wonder how else she could celebrate his legacy.
“The medal being in my safety deposit box was not forwarding the process of getting his innovation and problem-solving brilliance out into the universe, to hopefully inspire kids somewhere,” Tomasi said. The medal currently is up for auction with Heritage Auctions, with a starting bid of $50,000.
While the medal was by no means his most valued part of his success, Tomasi said when Fosbury would meet with young athletes, or go to track meets, he always would bring it with him, letting anyone hold it who asked.
“That medal was invested in the inspiration of generations of young athletes,” Tomasi said. But it wasn’t just a symbol of sporting excellence; she also noted how it was emblematic of innovation, adding that scientific research isn’t always the most attractive to children, but Fosbury’s new technique married sport and science, and his passion lay in encouraging younger generations to pursue both. “His superpower was problem solving. And I think [the high jump] was a problem for him.”
A gangly teenager, who grew very quickly, Tomasi said Fosbury had difficulty with the typical methods of high jumping at the time. He topped his personal best by 6 inches when he did it his way – a huge margin in a sport often won by centimeters. When he finally did debut the Flop, his high school coaches largely disapproved, but the coaches of his competitors were furious. “He said they would all get out their rule books and start flipping through the pages, saying, ‘This can't be legal!’ But it was,” Tomasi said.
At Oregon State University, his coach, Berny Wagner, saw what Fosbury was doing and agreed it worked. “He said, ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but let's film it, and we will figure out what it is,” Tomasi said. By sending his head over first to counterweight his center of gravity, the physics of his method was clear, even if the acceptance from his sport was not.
Fosbury didn’t win the Olympic Trial event that earned him a spot on the team, but Tomasi said he was undeterred, confident that the "Fosbury Flop" would be vindicated with gold.
His jump, performed in mismatched shoes, changed the sport forever.
In the months after winning the title, Fosbury became a sensation. “I have a picture of him sitting with Janis Joplin,” Tomasi said. “I also have a picture of him with the Idaho Dairy Queen, and he went on Johnny Carson.” But Fosbury knew there were other problems to be solved, and not long after winning the Olympic gold medal, he completed his education in civil engineering, later starting an engineering firm in Ketchum, Idaho. In 2019, he became the Blaine County Commissioner – a role he held until his death.
Fosbury’s story is unique, Tomasi said, because unlike with a Nobel Prize, where awards are given for the very important incremental steps made by individuals toward a goal that may not fully be realized for generations to come, this medal was one man’s idea successfully realized and synthesized into gold.
As Fosbury's iconic medal goes to auction – almost exactly 45 years after he was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame – Tomasi said it was his love of inspiring future generations that best defined him. The medal was a tool for him to show when you believe in yourself, and apply reason and hard work, the outcome can be something beautiful. “His message was: whatever your talents are, use them. If you have a gift, use it,” Tomasi said.
The medal is valued at $200,000 and the auction will close on Aug. 24th.