High jump legend Dick Fosbury’s cause of death confirmed

With the 2024 Olympics in full swing in Paris, it’s important to look back at the legends and pioneers who set the standards in their respective events and paved the way for the current crop of athletes. American Richard Douglas Fosbury, aka Dick Fosbury, certainly did that in the high jump.

Fosbury won gold in the event at the 1968 games in Mexico City, using a technique he popularized and perfected, now known as the Fosbury flop. The Fosbury flop is executed by running the final few steps before the jump in a curve, then going back-first over the bar, keeping the center of gravity below it. It’s now the dominant technique in the event.

Born on March 6, 1947, in Portland, Oregon, Fosbury sadly passed away on March 12, 2023, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was 76. But what happened?

How did the legendary Dick Fosbury die?

As per CNN via his publicist Ray Schulte Dick Fosbury died after a short bout of a recurrence of lymphoma (a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system and causes tumors).

Schulte wrote on Instagram, “It is with a very heavy heart I have to release the news that longtime friend and client Dick Fosbury passed away peacefully in his sleep early Sunday morning after a short bout with a recurrence of lymphoma.”

Fosbury had previously been diagnosed with stage-one lymphoma in 2008 and had undergone surgery to remove a tumor from his spine (as per USA Track and Field in a now archived post). However, due to the tumor’s close proximity to Fosbury’s spine, it was risky to get all of it that way, and he underwent chemotherapy to remove it fully.

In March 2009, he announced he was in remission (as per Sports Illustrated in a now archived post) and, in 2014, said he was “doing well” and “clear of cancer” (as per the Corvallis Gazette-Times). Sadly, he couldn’t beat the horrible disease twice.

Fosbury was a true giant of the Olympics and sport in general, and his departure from this mortal coil is monumental. May he rest in peace.