Straddle technique straight, and head and trunk pass the bar at the same time. Charles Dumas, the first high jumper to clear 7 ft, and John Thomas (silver medal at the 1964 Olympics) used this technique. Valeriy Brumel (gold in 1964) dove a little bit, his head going over the bar before his trunk. Probably the most extreme exponent of the dive straddle was Bob Avant, who cleared 7 ft. in 1961. Avant's technique was close to a pure dive, with just a small knee lift on his lead leg. The last world record jump with the straddle technique was Vladimir Yashchenko's
Straddle carrier were phased out as larger and faster conventional trucks came into use. An example of these road-going straddle carriers can be seen in the 1950 comedy film Watch the Birdie. Similar industrial straddle carriers are used in manufacturing and construction, both for handling oversized loads such as steel and pre-cast concrete and where transportation of special loads such as nitrogen tanks is required in restricted spaces not suitable for trucks. A key advantage of industrial straddle carriers over forklifts is the ability to load or unload a semi-trailer in a single operation, which can improve efficiency. The most common modern