Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump
| Men's high jump at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
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| Venue | Estadio Olímpico Universitario | ||||||||||||
| Dates | October 19–20 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Dick Fosbury |
 United States
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Ed Caruthers |
United States
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Valentin Gavrilov |
 Soviet Union
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The men's high jump was one of four men's jumping events on the Athletics at the 1968 Summer Olympics program in Mexico City. Dick Fosbury won by using a backward jumping style that was called the Fosbury Flop. This was the unveiling of the new style on the world stage. The style completely revolutionized the sport. By the mid 1970s and ever since, virtually all of the top competitors were using the new style.
At 2.18 high school phenom Reynaldo Brown and Valery Skvortsov topped out leaving the three medalists Valentin Gavrilov. Ed Caruthers and Fosbury. The medalists were all clean at 2.20. Fosbury took the lead by remaining clean at 2.22, Caruthers needing a second attempt. Garilov couldn't make it. Fosbury confirmed his win by making 2.24 on his last attempt, while Caruthers brushed his last attempt off.
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Held on October 20, 1968
Each jumper again had three attempts at each height, with the bar starting at 2.00 metres. Three jumpers were unable to perform as well as they had in the qualification.
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