Character design and animation on this clip was great!

What if they named the flop after his first name.

Which came first, the flop or the physics? Did Fosbury work out the physics first then try the jump, or did he just come up with a crazy jump and only afterwards people worked out the physics?

That certainly raised the bar for my knowledge.

Physics, eh? I always thought athletes used chemistry to shatter world records.

I remember my father claiming that the high jump had become one of just brute strength and no technique because he didn't understand that the flop is actually the exact opposite of brute strength. He was a reasonable man, but quite a bit older than me, and by the time I had figured out basically what is shown in these graphics, he was long gone. Too bad, he would have enjoyed learning this.

one minor detail - he first did his technique in high school, kind of by accident or desperation. The first time, it was pretty much unplanned - he was trying to do a scissors jump, but keep his hips up... and it just sort-of happened. A few others had jumped this way as well, but each developed it independently, and Fosbury was the most successful at it.

How the hell did I get here? I have an English essay due tomorrow and here I am learning about Olympic changing sport manoeuvres.

As to why they didn't name it after his first name, we turn to literature rather than physics. They obviously call it the "Fosbury Flop" because whoever came up with the term was aiming for artistic alliteration, both words beginning with "F". If they named it after his first name "Dick" they wouldn't have called it the "Dick Flop" because it's not alliterative. They might have called it the "Dick Dive". Luckily he had both a first name and last name that could be used alliteratively in his particular sporting event. If his name had been "Jones" they would have called it the "Jones Jump". But if his name had been "Smith" they might not have been able to come up with any such catchy name.

The voice, animation and soundtrack *chef kiss* THAT SOUNDTRACK THOUGH

Why are the characters made of butter?

I like that flop a lot more than the kind in basketball!

*when you really want to become an athlete, but your parents tells you to become a Physicists*

An excellent video. It definitely put some new insight on center-of-mass for me and has started to make me think about other measures of mass distribution in a body. But it is also nice to see the historical events from this perspective. Great work!

Nice to hear about it after ages! It's a part of my father's stories from the years before I was borne. Good thing to keep it alive!

Luckily they didn't name the flop after his first name...

Well done animation. Made it a lot more clear.

That pun at the end got me

That pun at the end tho 👌

Press 1 and 4 simultaneously to hear techno.

MIND BLOWN i can now make a donut levitate by holding my finger under its hole (the center of mass). Fizyks rules!

Wow, great explanation of a no so evident concept. Great graphics.

"only great leap forward that is also a great leap backward" the humor haha

The title sounds like an Onion article.

Amazing. Great animation, great narration, great concept! This is why I'm subbed to TED!

Thank you for the video. It was exactly what I was looking for.

Miroslaw Graf, first man to ski jump V-style also used physics to improve his distance in ski jumping. Before that, people didn't ski jump the way ski jumpers do today.

Such a great job of explaining it :) great script

That pun at the end though

Never thought such minimalistic animation would create such awesome effect.. 😍

imagine if michael jordon approached the bar like he flew in to dunk, only he turned over in midair and cleared it by a foot.

Everybody do the (Fosbury) flop!

Fosbury is my hero because he knew he wasn't strong enough or fast enough to win so he invented a new way to play. He won using Science... but I mean, he never won again after that cause everyone's like "uh... so, if this dude who's not as strong, fast, or tall as us is beating us maybe we should just try his technique."

Great video! He changed the whole spot! Amazing!

It still took him four years to win over his own coaches who required him to continue to practice the old style of jumping- but allowed him to compete in his own new "flop" style. Five years after failing as a 16 year old to jump the minimum 5 feet to enter a high school meet he won the Olympic gold medal and completely changed the event forever. Bizarre to think that you can jump over a bar wile keeping your body's center of gravity below it. And it was a 16 year old that realized it.

"...the center of mass is below your belly, a place where there is no mass at all." If that were only the case :'(

Ok... imagine the expression of audience in that event...what the f was that😂

fascinating episode

The animation looks awesome. Also: the pun at the end. LoL

great job can you make video on hurdles technique

In Fosbury flop the athlete passes over the bar with the back downwards, and as he arches his back the center of mass passes below the bar. Why the athlete doesn't pass the bar with the stomach downwards, and by bending over at the top of his trajectory, the center of mass will pass again below the bar. Besides the athlete can run vertically to the bar and use all the momentum to jump higher.

You just watched a three and a half minute pun. Thanks dad.

My high school physics teacher told me about this!! Still remember it 20 years later.

ur intro is like a morning alarm ngl like the feeling that u get when u hear it

im surprised this hasnt become a movie yet.

Breaking a new record in sports but breaking your back in real life. :)

I need to look this for me gym lessons 👌🏾👌🏾

Thank you for this information.

That pun was uncalled for.

EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP!

Tedd can u do a video with long jump plz? :) your video was very good^^

All athletes use physics when participating in their sport. Without physics, they wouldn't be able to do anything.

There is a music video called "Broken Arrows" that's roughly, but not entirely based off this.

last line 👌

One heck of a leap forwar- uh, I mean backward :D

Helped a lot thx

This is one of the coolest things you've posted

the music made me think i can jump a 2.24m bar

Flossberry prolly was like I’m tryna win bruh

very good illustration

the animation is so awesome

The last sentence was beautiful

Well this is super helpful to me because I had high jump practice and I have to get my form down...

I get the explanation. But why not do the same forward? Body can bent more forward than backwards

"great leap forward but its also great leap backward" china 1958-1962: and i took that personally

Mah man literally raised the bar for the then next athletes to come.

Great vid...thanx for posting.

“Avicci - Broken Arrows” MV shows the story :)))

he do be floppin doe

"he amazed the world" shows him in a empty stadium

The only flop that isnt a flop but rather a great success

Should talk about Yuri Sedych's world record hammer throw or just the hammer throw in general. There is some unbelievable physics going on there, much more than people may think.

To be completely pedantic it is keeping centre of gravity (which is not the same as the centre of mass if the gravitational field strength varies over the object) as low as possible which allows jumpers to get higher jumps.

Was looking for an answer about this. Studying physics based gesture drawings from Drawing Force by Mike Matessi.

This is one of my favourite examples of surprising sports-physics. I remember so clearly the first time the penny dropped - when it was explained that the centre of mass went under the bar while the athlete went over.

If got a TED Institute ad in a TED Talk video.

I came here because I saw a video with low res thumbnail and thought it was a meme

Were they landing on the ground with the old method? Or on pads?

the main part of the jump isn't the keeping of your body in the half moon shape it is about ruing the curve corectly to have your centripetal acceleration carry you over

Such a great video, should be sown to all young athletes in my opinion.

one of the greatest videos i have ever watched on youtube.great stuff by teded.keep it up guys!

great story great animation,just love it

2:39 wait for it. . . Dary! Legendary!

awesome animation!

Fosbury used physics paired with incredible body control.

the pun at the end :D

Great leap upward

but why is it backwards. one can also drop the center of gravity bending forward. can you please explain that also.

I'm sure Fossbury thought about ALL of this.

Everybody do the flop! :◗

Thanos: "it's a simple calculus..."

Thanks vor the video!

he looks like he's tripping on a rake in the thumbnail lmao

I love your guys' videos so much

the puns in this video tho

Very interesting one!

Very nice graphics.

I run track and when he said donut i almost barfed because there is a donut shop right next to where i practice

Now cover S.Bubka's technique.

Q. Did this also lead to a change in pole vaulting technique?