The front handspring vault was the first style to be used in the modern era of the sport. Until the early s, nothing spectacular was performed. Gymnasts would simply sprint down the runway, perform a front handspring onto the horse and push off into a layout position with no salto flip or twist. Some gymnasts would take a risk by performing a Yamashita , pulling the legs into a pike position, still with no salto or twist, and kicking out before landing.
In , it became popular to perform a layout or Yamashita with a non-salto twist. In the late s and early s, gymnasts began to add twist to the saltos. Now, in , the most difficult front handspring vault for the women is a double tucked front introduced by Yelena Produnova of Russia at the World Championships, making her the first woman to do so while the men had been performing it over the past several years. The compulsory vault from was a Yamashita with a half twist.
In , Mitsuo Tsukahara of Japan introduced the style that would be named for him. He took the front handspring style and performed it with a half twist during the pre-flight and a double layout during the post-flight. This was the first time a double salto in the layout position had been performed on vault. Many variations were introduced the rest of the decade including piked and tucked versions both with and without twists. Nellie Kim of the Soviet Union became the first woman to perform the Tsukahara with a full twist at the Olympics.
To date, the men have performed two and a half, triple twisting and triple salto variations while the women have only gone as far as a double twist. The compulsory vault from was a Tsukahara tuck and from a Tsukahara pike.
She performed a round off onto the springboard and a back handspring during the pre-flight. Natalia performed the first Yurchenko with a full twist in the post-flight.
In the late s, many Soviet gymnasts including Elena Shushunova and Olesya Dudnik added one and a half and double twists. This remains the most difficult Yurchenko vault for the women. The men have performed triple twisting and triple salto variations. Almost thirty years later, the Yurchenko remains the most popular style of vault for the women at Worlds and the Olympics.
In , Oksana Omelianchik of the Soviet Union introduced her vault, taking the Yurchenko and adding a half twist during the pre-flight with a front pike in the post-flight. However, the Omelianchik did not become popular until the mids. Many variations have been introduced since, including a layout one and a half twist introduced by Cheng Fei of China at the World Championships which remains the most difficult variation for the women.
The men have performed it with double and two and a half twists. Patrizia Luconi of Italy also introduced her vault in She took the Yurchenko and this time, added a full twist during the pre-flight with a salto during the post-flight. The Luconi did not become popular until the late s. In the early s, gymnasts who were weaker on vault performed this style because the different variations where not as difficult as other vaults and allowed them to have start values at 9.
From to present, the Luconi vault has been decreased in value tremendously for all variations with the exception of the full twisting layout version which is worth the same as a double twisting layout Yurchenko for the women.
These two videos show every vault that is in the current Code Of Points. Styles of Vault Front Handspring The front handspring vault was the first style to be used in the modern era of the sport. Tsukahara In , Mitsuo Tsukahara of Japan introduced the style that would be named for him.
Omelianchik In , Oksana Omelianchik of the Soviet Union introduced her vault, taking the Yurchenko and adding a half twist during the pre-flight with a front pike in the post-flight. It seems to. The layout of the table takes away the athlete's fear of misplacing their hands on the apparatus.
Additionally, athletes who choose as round-off entry for their routine are closer to the vault, minimizing their chance of flipping before placing their hands. As the USA Women's Gymnastics organization noted, these alterations take away the fear and give athletes the confidence to tackle more "aggressive vaults.
But with the pros come a con or two. Mainly that there is still a risk of hitting the apparatus during your routine. According to the USA Women's Gymnastics site, "if the hands make contact toward the front and the vaulter is not very powerful" they run the risk of coming into contact with the end of the vault. A pretty scary thought when you're twisting and turning several feet in the air, right? Overall, it seems gymnasts have been happy with the change.
But, thanks to Kerri Strug's memorable one-legged landing in the Olympics, the horse will love on forever in the gymnastics world. Now if only they could find a way to make the beam less scary. November
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