> That doesn’t sound like a very good strategy. The athlete is likely much heavier than the swing, and applying a backwards force to the swing will mostly just

> That doesn’t sound like a very good strategy. The athlete is likely much heavier than the swing, and applying a backwards force to the swing will mostly just push the swing back. I assume this is why GP specified "on the backwards swing." That is (as I understand it) when the swing is behind the crossbar, say at 45⁰ backwards. Then any pushing motion to propel the jumper forward would transfer through the chains to the bar, which is presumably stable. That said, I'm not sure if this is a good strategy, since you're starting further back. Yes, the world record for a standing jump is over 3 meters, but if you're starting 3 meters back it's not very good. (I'm assuming the measurement is from the crossbar, not from the origin of the jump, which would be very hard to measure.)