Vault (gymnastics)

Original vaulting horse configuration (women)

Original vaulting horse configuration (men)

Early forms of the vault were invented by German Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. The apparatus itself originated as a "horse", much like the pommel horse but without the handles; it was sometimes known as the vaulting horse. The horse was set up with its long dimension perpendicular to the run for women, and parallel for men.[1] The vaulting horse was the apparatus used in the Olympics for over a century, beginning with the Men's vault in the first modern Olympics and ending with the Gymnastics at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Following the accident in 1988 and compounded by the ones in 1998 and 2000, International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) re-evaluated and changed the apparatus, citing both safety reasons and the desire to facilitate more impressive acrobatics.[1] The 2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were the first international competition to make use of the "vaulting table", an apparatus made by Dutch gymnastics equipment company Janssen-Fritsen since the mid-1990s. It features a flat, larger, and more cushioned surface almost parallel to the floor, which slopes downward at the end closest to the springboard; gymnasts nicknamed it the "tongue";[1] it appears to be somewhat safer than the old apparatus.[2]

Dimensions

Modern vaulting table

• Length: 120 centimetres (3.9 ft) ± 1 centimetre (0.39 in)[3][4]
• Width: 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) ± 1 centimetre (0.39 in)[3][4]
• Height:
  • Men: 135 centimetres (4.43 ft) ± 1 centimetre (0.39 in)[4]
  • Women: 125 centimetres (4.10 ft) ± 1 centimetre (0.39 in)[4]
• Run up area:
  • Length: 3,500 centimetres (115 ft) ± 10 centimetres (3.9 in)[3][4]
  • Width: 100 centimetres (3.3 ft) ± 1 centimetre (0.39 in)[3][4]

The running speed is correlated with the difficulty of vault performed, with a stronger correlation for women than men, who may not maximize their sprint speed to achieve even the most difficult vaults.[5]

Training for vaults can include plyometric training.[6]

The horse has been blamed for several serious accidents over the years. In 1988, American Julissa Gomez was paralyzed in a vaulting accident; she died from complications from her injuries three years later.[7] During warmups at the 1998 Goodwill Games, Chinese gymnast Sang Lan fell and suffered paralysis from a cervical-spine injury.[8] In a series of crashes when the horse's height was set too low at the 2000 Olympics, gymnasts either rammed into the horse's front end, or had bad landings after having problems with their hand placements during push-off.[9]

In 2007, Dutch junior gymnast Imke Glas was seriously injured after a fall on a vault.[10]

A 2021 study suggested that landing scoring criteria for vault in women's gymnastics increased the risk of injury compared to the criteria in men's gymnastics.[11] Both this study and an earlier one from 2015 recommended allowing more flexion at the knees during landing to reduce impact-related injuries.[11][12]

A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing a vault (handspring double front salto tucked) at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

To perform a vault, the gymnast runs down a runway (the run), which is usually padded or carpeted. They hurdle onto a springboard and spring onto the vault with their hands (the preflight or first flight, and block). For vaults in the Yurchenko family, the gymnast will put their hands onto a mat that is placed before the springboard, round-off onto the board, and do a back handspring onto the vault. The off-flight may be as simple as leaping over the apparatus or as complicated as executing several twists and turns in the air. The gymnast then lands on the mat on the other side of the apparatus.

First flight phases of handspring, Tsukahara, and Yurchenko vaults

Vault styles are broken into various groups or families. In order to compete in a vault final, a gymnast must perform two vaults from different groups whose second flight phase is not identical.[19][20]