Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's high jump The men's high jump field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on September 9 & 10. The top jumper of the previous year, world record holder and winner of the Pan American Games, was Pat Matzdorf from the United States. But in a surprise, he failed to make the US team, leaving the field wide open. Jüri Tarmak was the last man to win Olympic gold medal using the straddle technique. The more popular and more widely used Fosbury Flop technique was the most common technique used. Top
High jump event was won by Cornelius Johnson at . American and Soviet jumpers were the most successful for the next four decades, and they pioneered the evolution of the straddle technique. Straddle jumpers took off as in the Western roll, but rotated their (belly-down) torso around the bar, obtaining the most efficient and highest clearance (of the bar) up to that time. Straddle-jumper, Charles Dumas, was the first to clear 7 feet (2.13 m), in 1956, and American John Thomas pushed the world mark to in 1960. Valeriy Brumel took over the event for the next four years. The elegant Soviet