Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

THE RUNNING LONG-JUMP 85 be squatting on his haunches like a Kaffir sitting by his camp-fire (see fig. 25). Now comes the most difficult part of the whole evolution-i.e. the prolongation of the flight of the body when the highest point in the trajectory has been reached. From this point, by all natural laws, the body should begin to drop; but that it does not do so in certain cases any one will agree who has seen Bricker, Knox, or Ahearn jump. It is thought that a fresh impulse is generated in mid-air by certain body movements, in which case the evolution may be likened to a shell fired from a gun with the fuse set to burst at a certain point in the flight; the burst– ing sets up a fresh impulse and forces the disintegrated parts forward, · but in the case of the jumper the whole body is forced onwards intact. 1 We can only describe what takes place as it appears to us, as follows: When at the top of his rise the jumper appears to lift his shoulders and to kick strongly with the leg, "walking in the air," as it were, and thus·sustains himself for an infinitesimal fraction of a second. Wonderful as it may seem, this trick once mastered will add quite six inches to the length of the jump (see fig. 26). The last stage of the jump consists of two parts : (1) Managing the body when it is on the down– ward grade, and (z) landing correctly. 1. So soon as it is felt that the body is beginning to fall, the legs must be shot out straight and the arms flung back to force the body onwards ; at this stage, will and muscles alike are set to get every possible inch of which the jumper is capable, and this is where a strong set of abdominal muscles come into full play (see figs. 27, 28, and 29).