Valeriy Nikolayevich Brumel was a Russian high jumper. The 1964 Olympic champion and multiple world record holder, he is regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever to compete in the high jump. His international career was ended by a motorcycle crash in 1965.
Brumel in California in 1963
A plaque in Bulgarian on Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, commemorating Brumel's world record of 2.25 m set on 31 August 1961
Brumel with his first wife in 1963
Brumel jumping at a meet
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar.
Canadian high jumper Nicole Forrester demonstrating the Fosbury flop
Yelena Slesarenko hitting the bar while using the Fosbury Flop technique
Konstantinos Tsiklitiras during the standing high jump competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Gold medal winner Ethel Catherwood of Canada scissors over the bar at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Her winning result was 1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in).
