Wednesday 26 December 2007

Little Known Facts: Origin of the The Triple Jump

Also known now as the "hop, step and jump", the triple jump appeared in the 1896 Athens Olympic Games as the 'hop, hop and jump', but its origins lie centuries earlier in the tiny Cotswold hamlet of Inn Breding on the Wold. As today's visitors will know, this picturesque settlement is bisected by the River Phoenix, which runs through the central green. When a spate washed away four of the stepping stones in the fifteenth century, villagers quickly became adept at hopping and jumping the resulting gaps (although strangers often came to grief!). The young men of the village would compete to see who could cross the fastest at the annual harvest fair, and from this the Triple Jump was born.

5 comments:

  1. Interesting. Do you have documentation for this history of the triple jump. I have not found any information about its origin until I stumbled across your blog. Thanks.

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  2. David - I am embarrassed to admit that I was making it up. The bit about the 'Hop, hop and jump' was true. The rest was meant to entertain ('Inn Breding' and 'River Phoenix' were wee clues to that). The Encyclopaedia Britannica tentatively suggests it may have originated with a children's game like hopscotch.
    My apologies...

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  3. Brother Tobias -- No apology necessary. I should have read it more closely for your "clues." I was excited to finally have a hint about its origins.

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  4. If this is some sort of joke... YOU LEAD ME HERE WHEN I WAS SEARCHING FOR INFO FOR A P.E. PROJECT!!!

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  5. Sorry Night Spy. But maybe whoever was marking it wouldn't have twigged, so you could use it anyway. Just change the names for an A+.

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