![]() But it also will remain part of the Yurchenko family of vaults. That’s your protein or your vegetables.”Īssuming Biles successfully performs the Yurchenko double pike at the Olympics, it will become the fifth skill named for her. “Your fundamentals and strength are probably your water for your gymnastics, and doing Yurchenkos is probably like a food group. “It’s as important as it gets,” said Christian Gallardo, the coach of Gabby Douglas entering the 2016 Olympics and now Olympic hopeful Shilese Jones. So did McKayla Maroney, the 2012 Olympian with a near-perfect two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko in the team final.Īt gymnastics’ highest levels, Yurchenko vaults are as prevalent as fastballs in baseball, but until Biles soared off the table and completed two flips rather than one, the term had never truly pierced the world outside gymnastics. Kerri Strug performed a version of the Yurchenko (with a one-and-a-half twist), landing it on an injured ankle at the 1996 Olympics. In doing so, she thrust this skill into the spotlight. So as she watched Simone Biles recently take this skill to unparalleled heights, Yurchenko felt overwhelmed.īiles became the first female gymnast to perform a double-flipping Yurchenko at the U.S. Even then, as she and the other gymnasts experimented with more difficult vaults into the foam pit, she wondered how much her eponymous skill could evolve. Yurchenko debuted the vault in an international competition in 1982, and this entry with a round-off back handspring has carried her name since. But when Yurchenko and her teammates first practiced the skill over mats, rather than the horse, it seemed possible - and more powerful than other techniques. “It was just a dream life for a gymnast,” said Yurchenko, who went on to become the 1983 all-around world champion.ĭuring one practice, Rastorotsky had an idea: Gymnasts always had jumped toward the vault facing forward, but he envisioned a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto a vault they couldn’t see. She practiced multiple times per day with other talented girls. She began training in Rastorotsky’s gym and attended boarding school. ![]() Her coach then noticed her potential and took her to Rostov-on-Don to introduce her to Vladislav Rastorotsky, the innovator who was imagining how the best young gymnasts might challenge the sport’s limits. Natalia Yurchenko arrived at that club from Siberia at age 11. ![]() At his training facility, he and his fellow coaches would instruct beginners to jump from a balcony into a foam pit as a way to gauge their fearlessness. Four decades ago, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a gymnastics coach envisioned a future that included more flips, more twists and more difficulty on every event. ![]()
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