I watched Barshim this evening competing in the diamond league. His attitude drew me into the game as I scanned through the sport channels on the decoder. He was spectacular, confident about the sport, the high jump. Barshim is from Qatar. Not that it matters anyway. I was more concerned with the Fosbury flop. A style in High jump I read about on Okechukwu Ofili's ' How Laziness Saved my Life'. A style ignored by every other country till it won the gold medal for the inventor, Dick Fosbury. He and his colleague from the United States adopted it in the 1968 olympics. He had used this style in 1965 while competing in a game but it didn't attract others as it was a mere style to everyone. He ended up clinching a 2.24m, winning the gold medal. Then, it became the style! Barshim did a 2.43m this evening. 0.02m under the World record of 2.45 clinched by Javier Sotomayor of Cuba in 1993. His first World record had been 2.43m in 1988. Something worth remembering. I see...
Diary of a Nigerian Boy.