Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

60 TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL is usually equal to the height of the bar from the ground. A veteran can, as a rule, take off closer than this, but that is the result of long practice and experience. If you jump or take off with the left foot, all the work is done with that foot and that side of the body. If you jump with the right foot, the conditions, of course, are reversed. The present description is of a jumper who uses the left foot. Upon reaching the take-off, as shown in the second illustration of the series, the heel strikes first, as may clearly be seen from the heavy mark underneath it, and gives the power for the jump. The toe merely gives direction to the motion im­ parted by the heel and the big shin muscle which connects with it. The leap has now begun, and with the right foot rising the jumper begins to sail over the bar. His line of travel is a perfect semi­ circle, beginning atthe take-off, and ending in the soft ground on the other side at exactly the same distance from the base-line of the posts. No. 3 shows him still rising from the ground, his right foot giving the direction of the leap. The muscles of the arms and back are now just coming into play to raise the torso and the left leg—and all the time the eye is firmly fixed on the bar. In No. 4 the right foot is just passing over the handkerchief, and the arms and back are seen straining with the exertion of bringing up the left