An athlete uses physics to shatter world records - Asaf Bar-Yosef

[@Ineddiblehulk]

Character design and animation on this clip was great!

[@HappyDragneels_page]

they look like the dudes on trophies

[@juma21347]

I was about to comment the opposite. The animation of the dude is very robotic, doesnt flow and doesnt look natural. And I mean the 3D part, the rest of the design is pretty cool.

[@renderize69]

It's actually rigging

[@thethirdman225]

Too bad the information is either invented or wrong.

[@Commentationation]

What if they named the flop after his first name.

[@zekel.2083]

that would be wierd

[@Dronebertios_World]

That is some quality commenting.

[@zekel.2083]

panks

[@lewisyuu]

Commentation "What technique do you use?" "The 'Dick' Flop, why?"

[@vietthangho9262]

"Everybody do the flop!"

[@Prelude610]

Which came first, the flop or the physics? Did Fosbury work out the physics first then try the jump, or did he just come up with a crazy jump and only afterwards people worked out the physics?

[@gabbonoo]

after the physics

[@sbonel3224]

I'm pretty sure Einstein turned in his grave when physics of such level was conducted.

[@Moral1tyCor3]

Somnu Bonel Then he should be spinning like a wheel 24/7 given the amount of such physics conducted in schools.

[@coolpeople4061]

Lol dummy

[@nykidxxx]

Moral1tyCor3 - So what you're really saying is that we've found a new source of renewable energy! :D

[@SAsgarters]

Physics, eh? I always thought athletes used chemistry to shatter world records.

[@reisanibal1]

good one :)

[@elliottmcollins]

Chemistry is just an interesting application of electromagnetism.

[@johndon820]

Elliott Collins Don't say you're a believer of homeopathic medicine.

[@elliottmcollins]

John Don Haha, what? How did you connect that with homeopathy?

[@elliottmcollins]

No, just to the fact that Chemistry is the study of chemical bonds, which are rooted in the physics of electromagnetism.

[@edeworabraham2761]

The voice, animation and soundtrack *chef kiss* THAT SOUNDTRACK THOUGH

[@live2walk]

one minor detail - he first did his technique in high school, kind of by accident or desperation. The first time, it was pretty much unplanned - he was trying to do a scissors jump, but keep his hips up... and it just sort-of happened. A few others had jumped this way as well, but each developed it independently, and Fosbury was the most successful at it.

[@MadUncle9]

How the hell did I get here? I have an English essay due tomorrow and here I am learning about Olympic changing sport manoeuvres.

[@sunnyt4493]

We've all been there , lol

[@benjaminyork690]

I was literally just thinking the same thing when I saw this XD

[@KillianDefaoite]

I'm not even lying to you when I say I am in the exact same situation. English essay due tomorrow and what do I do? Watch a video about high jumping.

[@idprefertonotparticipate]

Sunny T my pe teacher sent me here...

[@SolveGr]

How did the essay go?

[@justrusty]

I remember my father claiming that the high jump had become one of just brute strength and no technique because he didn't understand that the flop is actually the exact opposite of brute strength. He was a reasonable man, but quite a bit older than me, and by the time I had figured out basically what is shown in these graphics, he was long gone. Too bad, he would have enjoyed learning this.

[@mraccident]

That certainly raised the bar for my knowledge.

[@RRaquello]

As to why they didn't name it after his first name, we turn to literature rather than physics. They obviously call it the "Fosbury Flop" because whoever came up with the term was aiming for artistic alliteration, both words beginning with "F". If they named it after his first name "Dick" they wouldn't have called it the "Dick Flop" because it's not alliterative. They might have called it the "Dick Dive". Luckily he had both a first name and last name that could be used alliteratively in his particular sporting event. If his name had been "Jones" they would have called it the "Jones Jump". But if his name had been "Smith" they might not have been able to come up with any such catchy name.

[@dekai1029]

The smith spring

[@gillasosaurus]

+RRaquello They missed a big opportunity with the dick flop

[@WizardOfBallzGaming]

+RRaquello Dick Leap

[@HarisEka]

smith spring

[@jasonpanusopone6250]

How about the "Smith Swoop"?

[@DeepFreeze172]

Why are the characters made of butter?

[@mr.commenter1242]

So that he can bend his back further XD

[@SaidurRahmanSajal]

How high are you?

[@csar07.]

It’s realistic. How else do you think they slip over the bar?

[@jtiumproductions7629]

oh god the puns no insert pun here (i'm not creative enough to think of one)

[@jeremyshaferorigami]

I like that flop a lot more than the kind in basketball!

[@jdadaiii]

Jeremy!!!

[@leonardobonucci2043]

More like soccer

[@hiennguythianh2396]

*when you really want to become an athlete, but your parents tells you to become a Physicists*

[@pablotorres6997]

Wow, great explanation of a no so evident concept. Great graphics.

[@joec3753]

It was a "successful flop". Sorry, I'm a sucker for oxymoron.

[@royzhu5735]

What a moron.

[@juliashireen6195]

Thank you for saying that. The use of the meaning FLOP to mean something neutral has gotten into a more negative one, so Fosbury Fly is better, duncha think? XD

[@harihariswarshiv2143]

It is hook

[@alrighter2051]

Joe C an oxymoronic onomatopoeia

[@RandomGuy-bf8wq]

I feel sorry for the people who don't know what an oxymoron is...

[@FilzSkillz]

Luckily they didn't name the flop after his first name...

[@PelegTsadok]

The Dick Flop...

[@liskers]

But that would've been fucking hilarious.

[@gordonwaldner9792]

He now goes by Richard.

[@rakketakke]

Well done animation. Made it a lot more clear.

[@iamstoned4life]

MIND BLOWN i can now make a donut levitate by holding my finger under its hole (the center of mass). Fizyks rules!

[@chimericalical]

Fosbury is my hero because he knew he wasn't strong enough or fast enough to win so he invented a new way to play. He won using Science... but I mean, he never won again after that cause everyone's like "uh... so, if this dude who's not as strong, fast, or tall as us is beating us maybe we should just try his technique."

[@GROENAASMusic]

Miroslaw Graf, first man to ski jump V-style also used physics to improve his distance in ski jumping. Before that, people didn't ski jump the way ski jumpers do today.

[@PS-du2dq]

Nice to hear about it after ages! It's a part of my father's stories from the years before I was borne. Good thing to keep it alive!

[@kindnessfirst9670]

It still took him four years to win over his own coaches who required him to continue to practice the old style of jumping- but allowed him to compete in his own new "flop" style. Five years after failing as a 16 year old to jump the minimum 5 feet to enter a high school meet he won the Olympic gold medal and completely changed the event forever. Bizarre to think that you can jump over a bar wile keeping your body's center of gravity below it. And it was a 16 year old that realized it.

[@JloBroOFFICIAL]

Press 1 and 4 simultaneously to hear techno.

[@JloBroOFFICIAL]

if you press numbers on your keyboard after clicking the youtube video it might work. on every youtube video different numbers cue the time selector to different parts of the video.

[@JloBroOFFICIAL]

You're right lol

[@Vulppix]

+James Logan, lol

[@zenthaa]

Use 7

[@tyqwe45qe]

why.

[@YTBKd]

Never thought such minimalistic animation would create such awesome effect.. 😍

[@thethirdman225]

Pity it’s mostly wrong.

[@pcljet]

An excellent video. It definitely put some new insight on center-of-mass for me and has started to make me think about other measures of mass distribution in a body. But it is also nice to see the historical events from this perspective. Great work!

[@BenTheMagnifice]

Amazing. Great animation, great narration, great concept! This is why I'm subbed to TED!

[@thethirdman225]

Pity it’s mostly wrong.

[@username55ify]

The title sounds like an Onion article.

[@thethirdman225]

For all the information in it, it might as well be. The creator knows nothing about the high jump or why Fosbury did what he did.

[@FriendofWigner]

"...the center of mass is below your belly, a place where there is no mass at all." If that were only the case :'(

[@GraeHall]

This is one of my favourite examples of surprising sports-physics. I remember so clearly the first time the penny dropped - when it was explained that the centre of mass went under the bar while the athlete went over.

[@thethirdman225]

Not necessarily. This has been massively overstated. The most important work - at least 90% - is done on the ground.

[@interlinkknight]

I get the explanation. But why not do the same forward? Body can bent more forward than backwards

[@Oshbotscom]

I think it has a lot to do with getting your legs to clear the bar at the end. Jumping backwards you can bring your knees up towards your chest to get your legs out of the way, but jumping forward you can't get your thighs out of the way as easily.

[@interlinkknight]

OSHbots Make sense, since they have to avoid touch the bar. Thanks

[@thethirdman225]

InterlinkKnight That was the principle behind the dive straddle, used by the great Soviet jumpers Brumel and Yashchenko. But the most important thing to remember is that bar clearance technique is a distraction. Ninety percent of the work is done on the ground. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lavHdZirYreKqrM

[@xavierdizon3776]

"only great leap forward that is also a great leap backward" the humor haha

[@marinamarquez1018]

That pun at the end got me

[@muhibarfin]

Mah man literally raised the bar for the then next athletes to come.

[@MichikoKohata]

My high school physics teacher told me about this!! Still remember it 20 years later.

[@supersaiyan3693]

Now it's 27 years.......

[@p1zza_party_156]

ur intro is like a morning alarm ngl like the feeling that u get when u hear it

[@meltingEyeballs]

Breaking a new record in sports but breaking your back in real life. :)

[@PelegTsadok]

Sport...

[@edgarinv]

... jumping over the obstacle!

[@websnarf]

I think one of the points of the Fosbury flop is being missed here. This is also one of the first examples of "hacking the rules" of an open competition.

[@thethirdman225]

Paul Hsieh How so?

[@axlegrind4212]

imagine if michael jordon approached the bar like he flew in to dunk, only he turned over in midair and cleared it by a foot.

[@Rushmore222]

Fosbury used physics paired with incredible body control.

[@Teeleer]

im surprised this hasnt become a movie yet.

[@HienNguyenHMN]

The animation looks awesome. Also: the pun at the end. LoL

[@chronousnemesis]

FINALLY SOME METRIC!!! For fucks sakes Ted-Ed took too long to realize this. Even when you show metric in the video yet the narrator states in imperial so it's fair. But it's even more fair if you simply put both in the video. I expect the next videos to do the same

[@virtlink]

I didn't even notice it until I read your comment. Metric comes so natural to me, and most of the world's population that is not in the US.

[@ShawnRavenfire]

It's probably only in metric because the Olympic records are kept in metric.

[@elliottmcollins]

Even the US is inching (yeah, I said it) away from the imperial system.

[@shiptech2k9]

Elliott Collins Well Americans are stubborn, if the US is inching away, then it has miles and miles more to go.

[@YoHoOMirster]

+shiptech2k9 them why not the kilometer?

[@guesswhoami4723]

That pun at the end tho 👌

[@laurel8831]

I don't know how I got here but it was definitely worth it.

[@dimitriosyourastrologer2630]

In Fosbury flop the athlete passes over the bar with the back downwards, and as he arches his back the center of mass passes below the bar. Why the athlete doesn't pass the bar with the stomach downwards, and by bending over at the top of his trajectory, the center of mass will pass again below the bar. Besides the athlete can run vertically to the bar and use all the momentum to jump higher.

[@dubbydub9245]

You just watched a three and a half minute pun. Thanks dad.

[@quoggle9348]

To be completely pedantic it is keeping centre of gravity (which is not the same as the centre of mass if the gravitational field strength varies over the object) as low as possible which allows jumpers to get higher jumps.

[@terencenordberg7482]

What a perfectly constructed video. And fitting middle name 👌

[@EnterprisingOne]

Such a great video, should be sown to all young athletes in my opinion.

[@DarkSideofOZ]

That pun was uncalled for.

[@RSPikachuAlpha]

The last sentence was beautiful

[@LucidDreamer54321]

All athletes use physics when participating in their sport. Without physics, they wouldn't be able to do anything.

[@jimmyalvez557]

2:39 wait for it. . . Dary! Legendary!

[@Zetsuke4]

the animation is so awesome

[@MrBarosxp]

but why is it backwards. one can also drop the center of gravity bending forward. can you please explain that also.

[@thethirdman225]

That’s how dive straddle jumpers did it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lavHdZirYreKqrM But 90% of the work is done on the ground. Bar clearance technique is not nearly as important.

[@julianvanoudenaarden6573]

Tedd can u do a video with long jump plz? :) your video was very good^^

[@anantsingh1295]

his animation and his English is very good

[@joetyson3675]

Thank you for the video. It was exactly what I was looking for.

[@fatcat1840]

The only flop that isnt a flop but rather a great success

[@gavinhefferon]

Such a great job of explaining it :) great script

[@egali34]

"great leap forward but its also great leap backward" china 1958-1962: and i took that personally

[@Javelin22Giraffe]

Should talk about Yuri Sedych's world record hammer throw or just the hammer throw in general. There is some unbelievable physics going on there, much more than people may think.

[@johnjordan3552]

Centri _petaaall_ FOOOOOOORCEE!

[@samanthabrewster1314]

EVERYBODY DO THE FLOP!

[@liskers]

That meme was funny 2 years ago.

[@kuddos]

But how did he come up with this technique?

[@leykimayri]

He couldn't jump as high as others so he was experementing. In the meantime the place where athlets land after the jump was improved and it was safe to land on the back/head/whatever which helped himtry new methods. But he wasn't the only one experimenting at the time. He was just the first to do it who caught international attention.

[@JonatasAdoM]

+Georgia Like with the airplane, interesting

[@jrjwalton]

He copied the Canadian female high jumper Debbie Brill who jumped backwards and it was called the Brill Bend.

[@kuddos]

@@jrjwalton OHH I did not know about her. It sucks when ther credit someone else. But I still wonder what was her thought process to get to this technique.

[@mr.commenter1242]

Probably in an Avicii video or something like that... idk

[@mavila1368]

Well this is super helpful to me because I had high jump practice and I have to get my form down...

[@gordontang9640]

fascinating episode

[@aircraftcarrier6789]

That pun at the end though

[@ADoodGuy]

If got a TED Institute ad in a TED Talk video.

[@brianuuuSonicReborn]

I came here because I saw a video with low res thumbnail and thought it was a meme

[@chinmaybhalerao1712]

The script is what won it for me

[@bambooindark1]

very good illustration

[@hemanth3931]

Ok... imagine the expression of audience in that event...what the f was that😂

[@Timmimini]

Great video! He changed the whole spot! Amazing!

[@sobiraismail6637]

There is a music video called "Broken Arrows" that's roughly, but not entirely based off this.

[@lucaslayton3974]

But why do they jump backwards and not forwards so the body curves with the back pointing upwards?

[@leykimayri]

You cannot bent your knees if you jump forward

[@lucaslayton3974]

Georgia ah yes ok

[@spikey-gamingmore7625]

Lol you didn't know that. Sad but okay I guess

[@thethirdman225]

Georgia There are other ways of getting around that.

[@jpaysgamer8877]

I love your guys' videos so much

[@rdramandeep]

great job can you make video on hurdles technique

[@jasminehuang7748]

if the whole bending thing can take your center of mass outside your body, why not bend forward, seems easier than backward

[@kek3324]

not an athlete, but i reckon that it's easier to inch your legs higher if you arch backward, like a natural "kick" movement, as opposed to arching forward where you kinda have to go against the natural direction of your knee joints to raise your entire lowe body. plus, if you arch forward you are going to fall head-on.. certainly not a fun landing

[@jasminehuang7748]

@@kek3324 ooh that makes a lot of sense thank you!

[@thethirdman225]

First of all, high jump is not about flopping into a pit and hoping your CoM passes under the bar. The clue is in the name: the object is to jump high. After that, it really doesn't matter. Secondly, if you look at a competent roll straddler, you can quite easily see that the jumper, while having their lead leg stuck out parralel to the bar, is actually performing a forward roll around it. But the most important aspect is to jump high first.

[@phizzics1]

the main part of the jump isn't the keeping of your body in the half moon shape it is about ruing the curve corectly to have your centripetal acceleration carry you over

[@12UzumakiNaruto]

Why does the animation at 2:35 show him jumping off the wrong foot?

[@rossyquexn.4313]

I need to look this for me gym lessons 👌🏾👌🏾

[@kierachell.]

Now cover S.Bubka's technique.

[@thexinventor47]

Everybody do the (Fosbury) flop!

[@kostyapesterew1068]

i love trains

[@hadinossanosam4459]

Yes, you do.

[@900bz]

He didnt use physics he said he accidentally did it by instinct

[@CamJames]

physics and instinct are the same in humans. it's what makes us smarter than apes

[@ThatGuy_23]

The flop feels so natural. I can't believe it took the 60's to appear.

[@thethirdman225]

It was impossible in the days of sawdust pits.

[@MrJm323]

...The people before him didn't want to break their necks. As ThirdMan says, the old landing pit had a thin layer of sand or sawdust. They began gradually building up the cushioning beyond the bar in the '50s and '60s (by the 1964 Tokyo Games they had a thigh-high pile of foam pieces) until finally they just brought in a giant bed -- such that you could land on your NECK and not break it.

[@Chowan30]

I'm sure Fossbury thought about ALL of this.

[@phyiorme2522]

the music made me think i can jump a 2.24m bar

[@hiwayM9]

A great example for elementary school teachers that will inevitably get those young students who won't see how math is applicable to any pursuit in life and require a model to comprehend it's specific use.

[@ernestkhalimov9574]

"he amazed the world" shows him in a empty stadium

[@Tridentus]

What a complicated way of saying- "knees bend outward"...

[@katzen3314]

Because that's not what it's saying?

[@TanvirAhmed-xr8il]

great story great animation,just love it

[@thethirdman225]

Too bad it's mostly wrong.

[@jonathanmears1]

The same physics notion also explains why it is impossible to have you heels against a wall and still be able to touch your toes

[@srijanagrawal1791]

one of the greatest videos i have ever watched on youtube.great stuff by teded.keep it up guys!

[@TheLoobis]

Were they landing on the ground with the old method? Or on pads?

[@tullyheenan8714]

Helped a lot thx

[@modernmage555]

Thanos: "it's a simple calculus..."

[@horanstreet]

Thank you for this information.

[@lveronese]

you guys are great..

[@dhrubomasud3212]

Flossberry prolly was like I’m tryna win bruh

[@PAOLOHAON]

“Avicci - Broken Arrows” MV shows the story :)))

[@cez19]

Now make one about pole vaulting. It's an awesome sport.