Vault question

[dancing9118000]

Just a random question, why don't gymnasts use the old rectangular vault anymore? Everyone uses the table instead of the skinny one? Any reason?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

The main reason is that it's safer. It's a much bigger target and you are therefore much less likely to miss it or have your hands slide off the front/back/sides. Admittedly this doesn't make a huge difference on handspring/tsuk style vaults, but it makes Yurchenkos MUCH MUCH safer.

 

[ffliwt]

In a competition the other day i had to vault on the old style vault :S
On my first warm up (handspring) i crashed into the vault cause i was going to miss my hands so had to stop and just crashed into it! It was weird cause usually i don't have to think much about where i'm putting my hands i just get as much flight on as possible and my hands end up about 3/4 of the way down the vaulting table, so you can imagine how difficult it was to aim right! (and scary). I had to pull the board wayyy out.
I never realised how thin they were!! So glad it was just a handspring, a yurchenko on one of those must be terrifying!

I heard a gymnast say that with the table you can get more block and height/flight so you can add more somersaults/twists.

 

[ryantroop]

Not to mention Yerchenko vaults for men were just insane if they were done at all...

Old vault was scary.. When I finally became a coach I was terribly jealous of my gymnasts that they didnt have to use the long horse for vault... I would have enjoyed it so much more...

 

[Saturate15]

I learned handsprings on those vaults.. I can't believe I did! I think we lost technique though, because now some girls put their hands on the very end of it (towards the black part) and that makes you block less because you have to concentrate on making it over.

Most of it was due to safety, there was an elite girl, I don't think she was in the states though, and she was doing an international competition, missed the vault on her warmup broke her neck and is paralyzed from the neck down now.

 

[ffliwt]

I learned handsprings on those vaults.. I can't believe I did! I think we lost technique though, because now some girls put their hands on the very end of it (towards the black part) and that makes you block less because you have to concentrate on making it over.

Most of it was due to safety, there was an elite girl, I don't think she was in the states though, and she was doing an international competition, missed the vault on her warmup broke her neck and is paralyzed from the neck down now.

Do you mean that girls but their hands at the very end of the table vault? Or at the very beginning? (i don't get where the black part is?)

+ that girl that got paralyzed, is that Sang Lan? Poor girl She has her own tv show and everything now though, and i think she played table tennis in the Paralympics? or atleast i know she was aiming for that.