Dick Fosbury
Fosbury was so good at jumping they named one after him! The Fosbury flop secured him first place and the gold medal in the high jump at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. The Fosbury flop is the most popular jumping style in use today. For this reason, it’s got to be Dick Fosbury!
Ray Ewry
Ray Ewry took part in three Olympiads: Paris 1900, St. Louis 1904, and London 1908. In total he took a whopping 8 gold medals (no silver, no bronze). These were for the standing long jump, standing triple jump, and standing high jump. Most amazing of all is that Ewry contracted polio at an early age and spent his childhood bound to a wheelchair. It simply has to be Ewry for the win!
Ewry’s events were dropped from the Olympic games in 1912, with the long jump and triple jump being the closest remaining events (but not from a standing start). There are currently 33 different sports to choose from if you’d like to try out for the next games. Some of the more unusual events that are no longer represented include: dueling pistols (shooting at human dummies with targets pinned to their chests); the stone throw (not an actual stone but a weighted ball that, unlike the shot put, could be thrown any style); and the men’s sailor’s 100m freestyle (only open to members of the Greek navy – guaranteed Gold medal for Greece!)
