An Illustrated History of Hurdles

The 110-meter hurdles were an original event in the first modern Olympics in 1896. But those competitors jumped over the hurdles, rather then striding over them, using a straight front leg with a trailing leg tucked under their body, as hurdlers do today. American Alvin Kraenzlein developed what became the modern technique and used it at the 1900 Olympics, where he won the 110- and 200-meter hurdle events, as well as the 60-meter dash and the long jump.