Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

62 TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL must be kept from tearing the flesh. Note how the eye is constantly on the bar. In the next picture, No. 6, the bar has been cleared, the whole body is over, and the right leg has dropped. It is now no more used, except as a balance for the body, the entire work of the jump, as before stated, being done with the left leg. The jumper's eye is still fixed on the bai% and not until he is well over it, as shown in No. 7„ does he remove his gaze. As he clears the stick his back muscles give a twist to his flying form, and his right arm thrown into the air aids him in turning, so that he will fall facing the bar. The left leg has now passed the right, and is making ready to sustain the weight of the body on land­ ing, while the right is thrust slightly backward to maintain a proper equilibrium. The strain on the back and arms is relaxed. In No. 8 he is just about to land, and the cam­ era has given us a beautiful display of the loose­ ness of the arm muscles, showing the right arm still in the air and about to drop as soon as the feet strike the ground. The body is lying along the curve of the semicircle through which the jump has been made. In a competition each competitor is allowed three trial jumps at each height of the bar, and if he fails on the third trial he is declared out. Run­ ning under the bar in making an attempt to jump counts as a balk, and three balks count as a trial