How One Man Changed the High Jump Forever
Plus Lebron signs lifetime deal with FSG and UEFA open to multi-club ownership in the UCL.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
We want to dedicate this week's newsletter to Dick Fosbury who sadly passed away earlier this week. He was an exceptional athlete with an incredible story.
Fosbury was an Olympic gold medal winner, but his legacy goes far beyond his own sporting success. Not many athletes can claim to have completely revolutionised the fundamental way a sport is conducted, but without Fosbury, the high jump would be a very different sport.
In the 60s, the dominant techniques for clearing the bar in the high jump were the straddle and scissor methods. These complex motions were difficult for the 6ft4 Dick Fosbury, who spent time honing his own method.
Instead of jumping forward, and individually moving each leg over the bar, Fosbury decided to try jumping his entire body backward and arching over the bar. Soon, Fosbury began breaking high school records and went on to earn a scholarship to Oregon State University. Despite his relative success, the world of athletics was still unsure about the ‘Fosbury Flop.’ One newspaper even dubbed Fosbury ‘The World’s Laziest High Jumper.’
That was until the 1986 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where a young Fosbury stormed to the gold medal and set a new Olympic record at 2.24m.
The superiority of the Fosbury Flop was laid bare on the world’s biggest stage, and it instantly took over the sport.
Of the 36 Olympic High jump medallists from 1972 until 2000, 34 used the Fosbury Flop. It is now undoubtedly the most popular technique in High Jump.
⛷ The impressive legacy of Dick Fosbury made us think of other athletes that have revolutionised their sports.
If you watch Ski Jumping at the winter Olympics you might have noticed that most jumpers hold their skis in a V shape while flying through the air.
If you are wondering why that is, you can thank one man… Jan Boklöv.
Throughout the history of the Ski Jump, athletes would hold their skis perfectly parallel. As the aim of the event is to go the furthest distance possible while looking stylish, this technique was considered the gold standard.
But Jan Boklöv, an up-and-coming Swedish jumper, would often struggle to hold his skis parallel while in the air. One day he realised that his accidental open v technique was actually helping him stay in the air longer.
This is thanks to some simple physics. The V allows your body to have a larger surface area, which stops you from falling as fast during the jump.
While the V was clearly superior at providing distance, with Boklöv dominating ski jumping in Sweden in the 80s, the Olympic judges would often downgrade anyone using the technique on the basis that it was less stylish than the classic method. One newspaper even claimed that the V style resembled ‘puppies leaping into a swimming pool.’
It wasn’t until the 92 Winter Olympics that someone actually won gold using the technique. Since then, the majority of winners and competitors have used the V style.
👟 A more modern example of an athlete revolutionising their sport is marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge.
In 2019, Kipchoge became the first runner ever to complete the marathon distance in less than two hours.
With a time of 1:59:40.2 and an average speed of 21.2kmph, the success was recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records but did not count as a new record under World Athletics (formerly IAAF) rules, as the normal conditions of a marathon were not followed.
While the Kenyan will always be remembered for achieving the impossible, he also had a huge impact on the regulations around athlete footwear.
For the record attempt, Nike had provided Kipchoge with a specially designed pair of Vaporfly shoes which contained chunky soles and fiberglass plating designed to propel the athlete forwards. Kipchoge was instrumental in the development of this new technology.
While the base model Vaporflys were not banned by World Athletics, with most winners now using the shoes after Kipchoge’s success, his enhanced versions were quickly banned. In fact, World Athletics became so concerned with the advantage Kipchoge gained from his shoes, that they now pay far closer attention to athlete footwear, and have banned any shoes from competition that have not been on public sale for at least four months.
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🏀 Lebron James secures additional share of Fenway Sports Group
Lebron already had a 1% stake in FSG, worth about $100m, after he transferred his stake in Liverpool FC for a portion of the parent company. His additional equity comes as part of a lifetime deal that will see FSG pursue global marketing and sponsorship opportunities on behalf of Lebron.
What does this mean for the future? Well, this could be the beginning of the two opening an NBA franchise together. Both Lebron and FSG have made it clear that this remains their ultimate goal, with Las Vegas tipped as the desired location. Lebron would be the obvious choice to run such a franchise, and this new lifetime link to one of the world’s biggest sports empires makes this the most obvious next step.
⚽️ UEFA Chief opens door to multi-club Ownership within the same competition
Aleksander Ceferin was speaking on Gary Neville’s YouTube channel when he suggested that UEFA may allow one owner to have control of multiple clubs within the Champions League, a situation that is currently outlawed.
'The options are that it stays like that or that we allow them to play in the same competition. I'm not sure yet,’ explained Ceferin. 'We shouldn't just say no for the investments for multi-club ownership, but we have to see what kind of rules we set in that case, because the rules have to be strict.’
This is interesting for two reasons. Manchester United is in the process of being sold, and the two frontrunners (Ineos and Qatar) already have links to major European clubs (Nice and PSG.) Also, UEFA has already announced plans to reform Multi-Club Ownership rules, but suggestions at the time were that the regulations would be getting far stricter.
Ceferin’s wording hints that UEFA could take a more lenient approach. This is good news for the United bidders, who will not want their links to other clubs impacting the sale process. It will also be music to the ears of a club like Chelsea. Todd Boehly has stated many times that a multi-club model will improve Chelsea’s revenues and talent development. Perhaps he will be emboldened to realise this strategy after hearing from Ceferin.
🤔 Fun Stuff We Found
In the AI office, we often spend time scouring the web for interesting stories from that intersection between sport and business. So, we thought we would try providing you with our favourite reads from this week.
First up, we have an incredibly smart advertising campaign that brilliantly demonstrates the power of athlete sponsorship.
And, then there is this thought-provoking thread about how Roger Federer invited a young Rafa Nadal into his family box and changed the course of tennis history
📱 Social Media Madness
We start off this week’s madness with Pep Guardiola explaining how Hollywood actress Julia Roberts broke his heart 💔
In more upbeat news, Ted Lasso released its first episode of the long-awaited third season this week and caused utter confusion.
All of the marketing material claimed that the episode would be released on 15th March, only for Apple TV to make the episode available the day before in the U.S.
This even confused the show’s stars:
That wasn’t the only surprise from the show. Nike also announced that they were launching an official kit from the fictional AFC Richmond side that stars in the show.
Talking of cool football kits, the Portland Thorns arguably win the award for the most artistic football kit with the 2023 kit they launched this week.
Great writeup, thanks!