Why aren't you allowed to jump off two feet in the high jump

It was only 5'8 during a end of season track party. I wasn't a high jumper.

I believe the rule now says something to the effect that a jumper may not block off of two feet at any time during the approach. A few years back there was a high school jumper in the states that did sort of a forward dive technique. While they took off from one foot, just before that they would block, or have both feet on the ground. The video went all the way to the IAAF for the determination, and the rule was clarified.

the jumps and throws are rooted in ridiculous 19th century contests that someone thought measured pure athletic ability. How is landing on a thick mat, or even soft sand, about pure ability? Take away the prop and let's see how high someone can really jump.

In the real world, to jump safely you need to land on your feet, not your head. I'd be interested in the WR for that, and don't care how many feet you take off from.

If you can clear 2 meters and land upright, you're a force to reckon with.

dontgetit wrote:

lease wrote:

"Why aren't you allowed to jump [off] two feet in the high jump"? Because the event is jumping off one foot. That's the event.

You don't get to space the hurdles wherever you want them, either. Their spacing is set. That's the event.

You don't get to turn your back to the throwing sector in the javelin. That's the event.

Those analogies are horrible. You can't space the hurdles where you want them and jumping off of two feet are vastly different things.

Maybe the triple jump would be a better example: You don't get to do two hops and a jump, even though almost everybody would get a better mark that way. You have to do a hop, a step, and a jump. "That's the event," as "lease" would say.

And the non-rotary javelin is indeed a safety rule, just as is the prohibition against the somersault long jump.

Bad Wigins wrote:

the jumps and throws are rooted in ridiculous 19th century contests that someone thought measured pure athletic ability. How is landing on a thick mat, or even soft sand, about pure ability? Take away the prop and let's see how high someone can really jump.

In the real world, to jump safely you need to land on your feet, not your head. I'd be interested in the WR for that, and don't care how many feet you take off from.

If you can clear 2 meters and land upright, you're a force to reckon with.

You are the only Letsrun poster that I want to meet in real life

lease wrote:

"Why aren't you allowed to jump [off] two feet in the high jump"? Because the event is jumping off one foot. That's the event.

You don't get to space the hurdles wherever you want them, either. Their spacing is set. That's the event.

You don't get to turn your back to the throwing sector in the javelin. That's the event.

CORRECT!

Bad Wigins wrote:

the jumps and throws are rooted in ridiculous 19th century contests that someone thought measured pure athletic ability. How is landing on a thick mat, or even soft sand, about pure ability? Take away the prop and let's see how high someone can really jump.

In the real world, to jump safely you need to land on your feet, not your head. I'd be interested in the WR for that, and don't care how many feet you take off from.

If you can clear 2 meters and land upright, you're a force to reckon with.

I guess this kid in green shorts holds the true Wr

sheltered wrote:

I believe the rule now says something to the effect that a jumper may not block off of two feet at any time during the approach. A few years back there was a high school jumper in the states that did sort of a forward dive technique. While they took off from one foot, just before that they would block, or have both feet on the ground. The video went all the way to the IAAF for the determination, and the rule was clarified.

Does anyone have a video of this?

drive phase wrote:

paris2024hawk wrote:

Don't gymnasts jump of springy floors.

Yes.

Poster above is an idiot

Yes they jump off springy floors, but the point still stands. If two feet were allowed, the handspring vault gymnastics thing would be optimal technique. It will get someone way higher than Fosbury flop if they learn to do it.

I’ve personally seen a double backflip (straightened out mid-air before landing too) from grass using that technique, and oml was he high. It was just some guy at my high school too, not an extraordinary athlete.

Bad Wigins wrote:

the jumps and throws are rooted in ridiculous 19th century contests that someone thought measured pure athletic ability. How is landing on a thick mat, or even soft sand, about pure ability? Take away the prop and let's see how high someone can really jump.

In the real world, to jump safely you need to land on your feet, not your head. I'd be interested in the WR for that, and don't care how many feet you take off from.

If you can clear 2 meters and land upright, you're a force to reckon with.

I actually agree with this. Track and field is about pure human athleticism. Jumping is a big part of natural human athletic movements. High jumping has strayed really far from a natural movement like every other jumping and field event is designed to be (except pole vault, I’ll never understand how that event came to be). You literally jump backwards, back-first, to land upside down on a mat. At that point it’s more like a game, akin to baseball or basketball, rather than a sport.

I don't think they would jump higher. My first Track & Field event was the high jump. I could impress you by telling you I jumped higher than I was tall but not if I told you I was 5'8" at the time. The "lift" you get by leaning back and bringing one knee up for the fosbury flop has got to be more than any lift you could get by jumping with both feet.

paris2024hawk wrote:

That sucks it favours one type of jumpers some people jump better off one foot naturally and others are better with two.Allowing two foot jumps would only make the event more competitive.

There's

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Hight Jump

Pole Vault

How many more different types of jumps do we need?

sjshxhxh wrote:

paris2024hawk wrote:

That sucks it favours one type of jumpers some people jump better off one foot naturally and others are better with two.Allowing two foot jumps would only make the event more competitive.

There's

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Hight Jump

Pole Vault

How many more different types of jumps do we need?

I'd like to add:

Long Jump - "I can jump farther than you"

Triple Jump - "So what? I can jump farther than you if I take three steps"

High Jump - "Well I can jump farther if we jump vertically!"

Pole Vault - " Psh watch what I can do with this stick"

Hurdles - "You are all a joke, I can do a series of jumps WHILE sprinting faster than you fools"

Shot Put - "I can throw this heavy rock farther than you"

Discus - "That's cool but can you throw this differently shaped rock far? "

Hammer - "Well if you attach my rock to a rope I can really fling it better than any of you"

Weight - "I can fling that too but it's effing cold outside"

Javelin- "wanna see me harpoon that deer?"

100- "I can run faster than you."

200- "I can run faster than you but I'm in better shape"

400- "I can run farther than you, but I need time to work into it"

800- "Same"

1500- "Same"

5000- " Same"

10000- "Same"

Steeple- "I saw a horse do this once"

Marathon- "How far is Athens from here?"

Multis- "I can beat you if we choose a series of arbitrary events I'm good at and add them up"

Relays- " I can't beat you but my teammates can"

sjshxhxh wrote:

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Hight Jump

Pole Vault

How many more different types of jumps do we need?

The Olympics used to have the standing long jump, standing triple jump, and standing high jump.

Also, the Greek Discus, 56 pound weight throw, two handed shot, two handed discus, and the two handed javelin. These were in addition to the traditional throws we have today.

This post is gold

paris2024hawk wrote:

I guess this kid in green shorts holds the true Wr

https://youtu.be/-qTAeVGl_e8

That was a world record for the number of spectators watching a high jump competition.

sjshxhxh wrote:

Shot Put - "I can throw this heavy rock farther than you"

Discus - "That's cool but can you throw this differently shaped rock far? "

I bet the shot put has some obscure origin in military recreation.

My guess with the discus is the greeks actually used it as a range weapon. They had those phalanxes and shields in formation that a heavy object falling from way up high could maybe disrupt.

lease wrote:

"Why aren't you allowed to jump [off] two feet in the high jump"? Because the event is jumping off one foot. That's the event.

You don't get to space the hurdles wherever you want them, either. Their spacing is set. That's the event.

You don't get to turn your back to the throwing sector in the javelin. That's the event.

Yes, those are the rules, but sometimes you ask "why"? Uniformity in hurdle placement would seem to be necessary to make the event practical. Spacing them down to the cm for each individual athlete would take far too long and you can imagine the outcry if (inevitably) some venue got it wrong and the athlete lost as a result. A standard here is reasonable.

A requirement that each hurdle be cleared with the right leg leading would be arbitrary and if that existed I think it would be reasonable to ask why.

So, why was the rule made that way? Safety? Gate-keeping to keep those nasty gymnasts out? What?

I'd love to see a sort of no-limits high jump with hand-springs or whatever permitted. Just get over the bar.

I’ve seen kids jump pretty high with a perpendicular run up into a two foot front flip higher than similar aged kids doing fosbury, so I guess it could challenge the record.