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Deleted member D3987
Interesting; do you think we're "a long way" as in the difference from 1936 to 2012, or a "long way" as in we could add one or two more twists or whatnot to the hardest skills? What are the hardest skills you can see happening in the future on each event? As in, do you think it's possible to, say, land a triple arabian on beam (just for random example), or will that never be possible on the current equipment? If those things are theoretically possible right now, given enough time to train them, do you think that means the average age of Olympic gymnast will rise due to the necessary extra years worth of training it would take to get there?
Good point, but don't you think there will be a limit to how much elite coaches share with each other, with the intention of not helping out their gymnasts' competition too much? I'd love to believe most elite coaches are most concerned mostly with the progression of the sport overall, but I know they are all human, as well, and want to win.
yikes! arabian triple front off beam?? no way. when the beam is at FIG 125cm, the height from the top of the beam to the floor is 49 1/4 inches. now put in the required 20cm (8 inch) mat with the required 4 inch CLM (competition landing mat) and that leaves 39 1/4 inches from the top of the beam to the top of the mat. that's 3 feet and 3 1/4 inches. so in theory, if the gymnast was 6 foot tall, weighed 90 lbs and had the twitch and power of Prudonova to move that 6 foot mass then MAYBE a skill like that could be done. or, the gymnast was 3 foot tall, weighed 45 lbs and had the twitch and power of Prudonova then MAYBE a skill like that could be done. until that kind of anatomical anomaly comes long? no way.
or let's look at a tuck double back ON the beam from a round off or flip flop. this could be done. and in fact, has been done in training by 1 or 2 Chinese, Russians and Romanians. But the risk is too great for injury and falling. now, if they made the beam 6 inches wide and could make the balance beam like a Russian circus bar that was stable, this skill could be done easily and safely even when a mistake was made. but why hasn't this been done yet? because the FIG does not want balance beam to go that acrobatic direction.
boys high bar. quad somersaults. yes, these are possible. but the magnitude of the sheer force alone on the landing is a bit scary. simply, a 140lb man leaving the bar at near 30 miles an hour (yes, a good giant with tap) and launching himself 5 feet above the bar (approx 14 feet from the landing mat) then somersaulting 4 times (rotational velocity) that could find the athletes body weighing more than 20 times it's mass on the landing. well, you can't make a mistake cause pieces of bone or cartilage would shoot out of the body like a 45 caliber bullet from a gun. (embellishing just a bit for power point presentation)
now take the "compulsory" layout double double dismount for men. they use a different tap. the women can't effectively use this same tap because there is an obstruction called the low bar in the path of that tap. then you have the men's high bar higher than that of the girls bar. then you have the steel and diametrically smaller men's bar versus the girls fiberglass laminate rail. then you have the way each are cabled. the men's bar behaves like a slingshot. the women's bar not as much. but then you must have weight to effectively flex either bar. so then, at one time Horton did the flurry. a triple twisting double back dismount. a girl could never do this dismount on real bars on to a CLM unless you have an anatomical anamoly doing it. like 1 of the little people from the wizard of OZ. 3 feet tall and 50 lbs with the power and technique of...well...Horton! he's about that weight and height. LOL! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
finally, when i awoke this morning it hit me. the "Korbut" which was banned because it was dangerous. between the poster and the article and it being late last night you messed with my neural circuitry. so here goes...i remember the skill. it pre-dates the back flip from the feet on the high bar. and i'll do my best to describe it. i looked for about 20 minutes on youtube and can't readily find it. PineApple Lump is pretty astute and may find it. here goes...
1. glide kip on the low bar to catch high on the high bar. in the old days, a kip done this way was a "release" move. instead of going to support, you let go 1/2 way up and grabbed the high bar. this could be done because you could literally sit on the low bar and hold on to the high bar simultaneously. THAT'S HOW CLOSE the 2 bars were at that time.
2. after the catch on high bar the body naturally swings back and away from the high bar and then swings forward again at the low bar. when the body swings forward (this back/forth swing is referred to as an "empty" swing today) you stretch out your body over and on top of the low bar. you can't readily do this today because the bars are too far apart.
3. next comes the small "tap" when stretching over the low bar and then you bring your feet/legs in to a pike position with the feet going between the arms to a "basket" position. today it's called a "glide jamb". from this basket position you then do a "kip" to a sitting position up on the high bar. today this is called an "in bar" kip.
4. next comes the actual "Korbut". after reaching this sitting position you let go of the bar and reach upwards as you push your feet down at the floor. Olga then actually performed a "back bend" from this sitting position down to the low bar where she then performed another "kip catch high".
this back bend down to the low bar from the high bar created an enormous amount of swing. the mats in those days were woefully insufficient for these kinds of skills. consequently, some kids missed the low bar and fell to a "seat drop" on to those mats and broke their back. THIS was the skill that was banned shortly thereafter Korbut's debut of this unique skill.
thank you very much Dunno for going to bed last night bothered that...