Track and field onto a cushioned landing area. The men's high jump was included in the 1896 Olympics and a women's competition followed in 1928. Jumping technique has played a significant part in the history of the event. High jumpers typically cleared the bar feet first in the late 19th century, using either the Scissors, Eastern cut-off or Western roll technique. The straddle technique became prominent in the mid-20th century, but Dick Fosbury overturned tradition by pioneering a backwards and head-first technique in the late 1960s – the Fosbury Flop – which won him the gold at the 1968 Olympics. This technique has
Iolanda Balaș Her record of 1.91 m, set in 1961, lasted until the end of 1971 (beaten by Ilona Gusenbauer from Austria), when jumpers with a more efficient technique (the straddle technique, and later the Fosbury style) took over. After retiring from competition in 1967, Balaș married her former coach Ioan Söter, and taught physical education in Bucharest. Between 1988 and 2005 she was president of the Romanian Athletics Federation. She was also a member of the technical committee of the European Athletics Association, and in 1995 was elected to the women's commission of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Balaș