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
Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics the previous two editions; the team race also had its distance shortened. A short track relay event was added. The multi-discipline triathlon and decathlon events that had been experimented with at the 1904 Games were both absent, as was the 56 pound weight throw. An unusual event featuring the discus, which had become a staple of Olympic athletics, was held in which throwers had to follow a very specific throwing style. Overall there was one more event on the 1908 programme than there had been in 1904. New: Removed: ! July ||width=30| 13th ||width=30| 14th ||width=30| 15th ||width=30| 16th ||width=30|