The most INCREDIBLE elements performed by Soviet & Russian gymnasts (VIDEOS)
Failure to successfully pull off some of these elements could easily have turned into a tragedy. But, that didn’t stop athletes from trying them… repeatedly.
“I was always afraid of this flip. Yes, yes, yes! Even having mastered it to perfection, I always, until the very last day in sports, approached the bars and my heart plummeted into a hellhole of fear. I had cotton legs, dizziness and a nauseating weakness,” wrote Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut in her autobiography.
The Korbut Flip
Four-time Olympic champion Olga Korbut first performed the element later named in her honor at the 1972 Munich Olympics. While performing the program on uneven bars, she stood with her feet on the high part of the bars, did a backflip and, again, locked her hands on the bar.
Subsequently, the element was banned, due to a change in rules - it is now forbidden to stand on the bars with one’s legs. But some argue that the element was banned precisely because of the risks when performing it.
The Mukhina Flip
Three-time world champion and four-time European champion Elena Mukhina improved the already complicated Korbut Flip. The gymnast added a twist to it, i.e. she performed a rotation during a backflip. Subsequently, this element was also banned.
Mukhina was considered one of the most promising gymnasts on the national team, but she was not able to take part in the Olympics, due to a tragedy. While preparing for the 1980 Olympics, Elena tried to perform a men’s element - the Thomas salto. The gymnast has to do one and a half backflips with a 540 degree turn and land head down in a somersault. Tragically, Mukhina suffered a serious spinal injury and was permanently confined to a wheelchair. Today, any elements with a somersault landing are banned (including in the men’s program).
The Produnova Vault
The element was named in honor of 2000 Olympic silver medalist Elena Produnova. It is a vault in which the gymnast jumps forward onto a gymnastic goat, pushes off from it with one’s hands and does two and a half somersaults forward. Elena had been preparing for it for eight years and even her coach thought she would fail. But, in 1999, Produnova performed the jump perfectly at the Summer Universiade.
The element is allowed, but only five gymnasts have successfully performed it in its entire history.
Shaposhnikova’s flight
This is a flight from the lower pole to the upper pole from a handstand. This element, named after two-time Olympic champion Natalia Shaposhnikova, is permitted and is used in the programs of many gymnasts in top-class competitions. It is considered to be one of the most difficult elements to perform on uneven bars.
Mustafina’s dismount on uneven bars
Two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion Aliya Mustafina invented and performed two new elements. One of them is a jump on the uneven bars with two backflips grouped with a 540-degree turn.
