You know the way that high jumpers jump? That wasn’t how they always did it. Athletes used to dive face down over the pole, until 1968 when an American named Dick Fosbury won gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City with his face up approach. The style, now known as the Fosbury flop, was named after him and the rest is history.
Here are some more sports terms named after people:
- The Panenka – a style of penalty kick named after the former Czech footballer Antonín Panenka. It involves chipping the penalty kick down the middle after feigning a much stronger kick, often to the goalkeeper’s left or right.
- The Nat-meg – a type of cricket shot played against yorkers that goes through the legs, named after England international Natalie Sciver. It’s an adaptation of the term “nutmeg” from soccer, where a player kicks the ball between an opponent’s legs.
- Gretzky’s office – an area behind the net in ice hockey, named after Wayne Gretzky as that was where he often set goals up
- A Bradbury – when you win a race as the last one standing, named after Australian short track speed skater Steven Bradbury who won gold in the 1000m at the 2002 Winter Olympics when everyone else fell on the last lap
- The Dream Shake – a type of post move in basketball, named after Hakeem Olajuwon who was nicknamed “The Dream” and made it famous
- The SABR – a style of play in tennis where the returning player runs towards the net during server’s ball toss, named after Roger Federer (SABR stands for Sneaky Attack By Federer)