Fosbury flop

8.9

A high jump method where the jumper goes over the bar backwards, head first

noun
/ˈfɑːzbəri flɑːp/

Specialized

: Fosbury flop

Many high jumpers now use the Fosbury flop to clear the bar efficiently.

Examples

In this discipline, the Fosbury flop—where the high jumpers leap backwards over the lath—is the commonly used technique.

Academic text (2008)
He won the gold medal by successfully executing the Fosbury flop during the final jump.
The Fosbury flop revolutionized high jumping in the 1960s and is now the standard technique.

How Difficult

Fosbury flop

Specialized

8.9

straddle

Specialized

1 6.9

scissors

Jargon

5 8.1

finger-roll

Jargon

1 7.2

Surface Forms

Fosbury flop singular

Fosbury flops plural

Morphology

Fosbury + flop

This is an eponymous term named after athlete Dick Fosbury; the proper name 'Fosbury' carries no lexical meaning a learner can decode, and while 'flop' suggests a fall, it does not specify a high-jump technique. A B1 learner who knows the words would not be able to infer the specialized sporting technique without prior exposure, so the expression is not compositional.

Etymology

The term Fosbury flop comes from American jumper Dick Fosbury. He went over the bar backwards and head first and landed with a soft flop on his back, so the name now means 'a high jump technique in which the jumper goes over the bar backwards and head first'.