The Browning Bounce?

[Marlow]

I feel as though we might have covered this before, but here is an alleged 7' jump back when the world record was 6'11, made by a gymnast in a tumbling run . . . but . . . do you notice they never actually show him and the bar in way that makes it clear that the bar is that high?

http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/gallery ... 58_6700.do

And, is it on a spring-loaded floor?

[this is from a great article linked on the home-page about Fosbury]

edit - here's the thread I must have remembered

viewtopic.php?t=754

[Conor Dary]

I think they made a movie about it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043362/

[gh]

I have this recollection that in yet another thread HJ expert Suso weighed in with some photo analysis and "proved" that the bar wasn't that high.

[Dave]

It would be interesting to see a contemporary gymnast try the same experiment.

Here is another set of pictures of the event:

http://www.usghof.com/files/bio/d_brown ... wning.html

[Marlow]

I have this recollection that in yet another thread HJ expert Suso weighed in with some photo analysis and "proved" that the bar wasn't that high.

I was thinking the same. I have great difficulty seeing anything over 6'6 (which is still pretty darned impressive!) off a concrete floor. Sprung floor? Yeah, 7'6, even 8' is very doable.

BTW - the rules should be unrestricted - it's the HIGH JUMP, not the High One-Footed Jump.

[Daisy]

I have this recollection that in yet another thread HJ expert Suso weighed in with some photo analysis and "proved" that the bar wasn't that high.

Here is the thread that Suso contributed to:

tumbling high jump record

[Conor Dary]

I have this recollection that in yet another thread HJ expert Suso weighed in with some photo analysis and "proved" that the bar wasn't that high.

I was thinking the same. I have great difficulty seeing anything over 6'6 (which is still pretty darned impressive!) off a concrete floor. Sprung floor? Yeah, 7'6, even 8' is very doable.

BTW - the rules should be unrestricted - it's the HIGH JUMP, not the High One-Footed Jump.

I think we have had this discussion before on one foot, two foot. Probably had to do with not breaking your neck landing in a sand pit, which might happen somersaulting over a 7foot bar.

[kuha]

I'd forgotten about this, but stand by my comments on the original thread--the camerawork was artfully done to disguise the fact that the bar was set WAY lower than 7 feet. I could easily be persuaded that it was actually at 5'6" or so.

[Conor Dary]

I'd forgotten about this, but stand by my comments on the original thread--the camerawork was artfully done to disguise the fact that the bar was set WAY lower than 7 feet. I could easily be persuaded that it was actually at 5'6" or so.

I go with this. I think it is one big joke. Now it reminds me more of Muriel Hemingway 'hurdling' and 'high jumping' in Personal Best.

[jhc68]

There is no visual proof in the linked newsreel to really nail down how high the bar was set.

Better evidence are the photo sequences pubished originally in Life and posted on Browning's website (http://sites.google.com/site/dickbrowningarts/home/life-magazine) and again at http://books.google.com/books?id=KEgEAAAAMBAJ&q=browning#v=snippet&q=browning&f=false
(scroll to page 69)

Despite the fact that the last word of the Life Mag URL is "false", both series show Browning clearing heights that would have been world or national class HJ marks in the mid-1950's. The latter claims a quite believable looking 6'8" clearance from a surface that appears to be a track venue rather than a spring loaded floor.

So it is not difficult to lend credence to the claims that a two footed flip done by a talented athlete can produce lots of altitude, even in the 1950's. After all, the Jerome Simpson airborne touchdown forward flip by a non-gymnast with several pounds of pads on made every highlight show last fall (you can find it easily on any video search.)

Most interesting to me is Browning's back-to-the-bar clearance form which pre-dated the flop technique by a decade.

[mrbowie]

The guys later produced Yeti and UFO sightings! They are still probably peeing in their pants they are laughing so hard!

[mrbowie]

I am pretty sure I spotted this guy through the window of one of UFO photos. You don't forget a guy this geeky looking.