Athletes in Action

157 THE LO G JUMP (z) As the Jumper ri e into the air, 1 aving the board at an angle of about 45 degrees, the running action is continued (Fig. 3) opposite, except that th foot of the leading leg instead of being eh pped down to complete a sprint-stride, is allowed to swing freely forward. ot , in •ig. 3, that the body ish ld perfectly upright, with the head squarely et in relati n to the spinal column, and that the action of the arms and legs n opposite sides of the body i perfectly harmonious. te, al o, the way in which the rear (right) leg is all wed to hang. his" hang" is of great importance, f r the take-off leg must not b br ught up, r thr ugh, t the fr nt t o quickly. In •ig. 4, pp ite, the mid-air running action still c ntinues, and the rear (right) leg is again c ming into a tion, a the 1 ading (left) leg is full traightened and 1 ck d at the kn . It will be e n that the downward eh p £ the right arm i d liberately helping to bring the 1 ft 1 g into a stiff line and is also c ntributing to the ffort t carry the right kn thr ugh t the front. ot , al that the he 1of th right f ot d e not rise t a point higher than will all w f the hin of the right leg remaining parallel to the gr und. The slight forward b dy-1 an is n t -v rthy, because, until the leg- hoot f r landing i mm need, the b dy should ne er be in lined further forward than i shown in Fig. 4· The nee f good Long Jumping li s in keeping the weight f the body back fr m ab ve the thighs. h high hurdler dip , forcing his trunk d wn over his thigh because he wants t get his f ot quickly to earth. It is f r xactly the opposit r ason that the Long Jump r hold his b dy upright, that the wei ht f hi trunk ab v the thigh may n t f rce his feet do\ n any o ncr than th f r e f gravity will drag th m t earth.