Dick Fosbury, a Blaine County Commissioner and USA Track & Field Olympian, died at the age of 76 on Sunday after a recurrence of cancer, according to his Instagram profile.
Ray Schulte, Fosbury’s agent, wrote the post on Monday.
“Dick will be greatly missed by friends and fans from around the world,” he said.
Fosbury was a Wood River Valley resident for more than 40 years, according to an Idaho Mountain Express article, and worked in local government in a number of capacities. After co-founding Galena Engineering, he was an engineer for the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Our sport lost a true legend and innovator today with the passing of Dick Fosbury.
— USATF (@usatf) March 13, 2023
He invented the “Fosbury Flop”, was a gold medalist at the 1968 Games, and remained an advocate for athletes his entire life. Fosbury’s legacy will live on for generations to come.
📸 USOPC pic.twitter.com/U1FWGV4NYB
More recently, he was in his second term as a Blaine County Commissioner and was last elected in 2020.
But, he was best known to most outside the valley for his pioneering strategy to launch his body over the high jump bar backward as a track and field athlete. He used this technique — the “Fosbury Flop,” as it became known — to win the gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Now, it’s by far the most common strategy for high jump athletes.
Fosbury is in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, the US National Hall of Fame and the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.
His other roles in Blaine County included serving on the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority and the Wood River YMCA board, as well as chairing the Southern Idaho Solid Waste District.
Schulte said Fosbury is survived by his wife, Robin Tomasi, his son, Erich Fosbury, and his stepdaughters, Stephanie Thomas-Phipps and Kristin Thompson.
A celebration of life for Fosbury will be held in the next few months, the post said.
