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
Italy at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics Italy at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics Italy will compete at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics from 10 to 18 August in Moscow, Russia. On 23 July 2013 the President of the FIDAL Alfio Giomi, announced during the event which took place in "Augosto Azzurro" in the main hall of CONI, which are 59 Italian athletes who will participate in the world championships in Moscow. Italy national athletics team ranked 19th (with only six finalist) in the "IAAF placing table". Rank obtained by assigning eight points in the first place and so on to the eight finalists. IAAF