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⚽ Sports and games 🏅 The Olympics and athletics

The high jump

The high jump

📖 In short

The high jump is a sport where the athlete tries to jump over a horizontal bar between two posts without knocking it off. They run toward the bar, leap high, fly over it and land on a big soft mat.

🤩 Did you know?

  • The posts are at least 4 meters apart.
  • Fosbury set an Olympic record of 2.24 meters in 1968.
  • The men's world record is higher than 2.4 meters, much taller than a house door!
  • The jumper lands on a thick foam mat.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 The Fosbury Flop

More than fifty years ago the American Dick Fosbury jumped in a new way: he turned and went over the bar on his back, head first. He won gold, and today every high jumper uses his technique.

🔍 Three tries

At each height the athlete has three tries. If they knock the bar off three times in a row, they're out. And every time they succeed, the bar goes higher.

💡 The curved run-up

The jumper runs on a curved path like the letter J, gaining speed and leaning their body in a way that helps them turn and rise over the bar.

🎯 Arab champions

Arab athletes have achieved great things in the high jump, like Qatar's Mutaz Barshim, who has won Olympic medals and world championships.

🧩 Test yourself

1 How many tries are there at each height?

2 Who is the famous Qatari high jump champion?

3 The posts are at least ?? meters apart.

4 Which picture shows “The high jump”?

⚽ Discover more

📷 Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons