Top 10 Gymnastics Stunts of All Time

April 8, 2012

Gymnasts are trained in order to fine tune their bodies to perform the seemingly impossible stunts or routines that are expected from them. A gymnast is expected to be strong, agile and flexible. Gymnasts — whether amateurs or professionals — train themselves to make every gymnastic stunt doable.

Crazy these stunts may be, but they are certainly doable and executable — if practiced with care.

Gymnasts are expected to do unimaginable somersaults, flips, turn and twists without noticeable difficulty. High level gymnasts know that some of the Top 10 Gymnastics Stunts of All Time are the stunts they must perform in order to score big in a competition.

Of course, they all have to go through the basics. Gymnastics may be a challenging sport, but one must start with laying their own foundations before trying on these complicated Top 10 Gymnastics Stunts of All Time. These gymnastic stunts wouldn’t be considered as such if it weren’t for its difficulty.

Here are the top 10 gymnastics stunts of all time:

1. The Amanar Vault

Fact: The Amanar Vault, or simply called The Amanar, is named after a Romanian gymnast who performed it last 2000 Olympic Games — Simona Amanar. The gymnast performs a round-off onto the board, a back handspring onto the horse, and a flip off. In the Amanar, the flip off the horse is a 2.5 twisting layout back flip.

2. Arabian Double Front

This gymnastic stunt is used popularly by elite gymnasts. A gymnast does a half turn; then, he flips two times in the air, before landing. This is highly rated in difficulty, thus completing this routine lands a big score on the record.

3. Balance Beam

It’s an apparatus, at the same time, a routine performed by gymnasts. Before, dance poses, flips and back handsprings were the trending tricks on a balance beam. However, this totally changed when Olga Korbut and Nadia Comanecicame into the scene; they paved history with inclusion of aerial skills and advanced tumbling skills.

Check out the videos below to see how dramatically the beam apparatus skills have developed over the last 40 years:

4. Handsprings Front Entry

This may look easy to perform, but in a competition, judges are quite strict when it comes to the posture and execution of a gymnast performing this stunt. Good arm and leg coordination is required to successfully execute this. Some coaches emphasize on shoulder flexibility as well. This requires the discipline of resisting the reflex of tucking forward during forward rotations.

5. Handsprings with Somersaults and Twists

If you found it difficult to perform a front handspring, then think before you try to execute this stunt. Extreme caution and danger precautions should be employed if you should practice this trick. We see this stunt often used in dance moves. Actually, this is one of the many complicated stunts performed by women on a vault. As she springs off the horse, she must perform somersaults and twist, then landing neatly on the ground.

6. Maltese Cross

This stunt can be done with rings. Most of the time, this stunt is performed by men due to the upper-body strength requirements it demands. A gymnast remains suspended in air horizontally, with arms extended laterally.

7. Tkachev Salto

Considered as the hardest stunt in gymnastics, Tkachev Salto is performed on uneven bars. It’s not that because it is performed on such apparatus; the movements complicate the whole routine itself. To quote a gymnastic enthusiast, “Tkachev salto may be possible to perform only by those gymnasts who can perform straight Tkachev (D elemet) or straight Tkachev with 1/1 turn.”

8. Tsukahara

This stunt was named after Mitsuo Tsukahara, the first one to perform this stunt on a vault. He is a five time Olympic Medalist. As stated in the Vault Skills Terminology, “Any vault that has a handspring with 1/4 – 1/2 turn onto the vault table into a salto backwards is classified as a Tsukahara vault.”

9. Yurchenko

Soviet gymnast Natalie Yurchenko made this stunt popular. According to the Code of Points, Any vault with a roundoff-back handspring entry is classified as a “Yurchenko-style” vault. Most of the gymnasts still continue to recreate this difficult stunt to make it their own.

10. Yurchenko With Preflight Twist

This is another variation in Yurchenko vault style. This is the newest and final category that was added to the different “families” in the Code of Points. To do this, a gymnast performs a round off and then a half or more turns are done before pushing off the horse.


12 Comments

  • Ilkmen says:

    Great post, thanks! I am currently trying to do the Tkachev Salto! Nice to hear about the other stunts too, need to find some technique drills

  • Xavier says:

    Thanks Ilkmen! Best of luck!

  • gymnast3 says:

    here is one that I like .. I think the title goes something like ‘5 most hardest gymnastics moves ever’
    enjoy > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXnjGsD9Z0k&sns=fb

  • This is a great list of gymnastic.am trying to learn the arabian double front.

  • katelin says:

    it is cool but put up some more like seriously these are the easiest gymnastic trick i have seen

  • gwcrvivsh says:

    Спасибо, давно искал

  • Jovanna Anderson says:

    I would like to know how i can learn these stunts because i am a beginner

  • Last Reply was 4 years ago