Athletics (British Sports Library)

CHAPTER XVII THE HIGH JUMP THE High Jump rules provide that the uprights shall be placed at least 12 feet apart and may not be moved except at the end of a round of jumping, and then only by permission of the judges. The judges decide also the height at. which jumping is to commence. All measurements are made perpendicularly from the ground to the upper side of the bar at the point where it is lowest. Each jumper is allowed three jumps at each height until he forfeits his right to compete further by three successive failures to clear any one height. A competitor may commence jumping at any height he likes, but once having commenced must jump at each succeeding height. Diving and somersaulting over the bar are not allowed. A fair jump is defined as one in which the head does not go first over the bar and is not lower than the jumper's buttocks in effecting the clearance. As soon as a competitor makes a spring in order to jump this is counted as a trial jump. 203