Skills I'd Like to See

January 14, 2008 By Dwight Normile

The Code of Points has a way of dictating which skills and combinations appear in routines, but that doesn't mean we can't dream. Following is a list of elements, some borrowed from the past, that I would love to see.

Floor Exercise

• Full-twisting Arabian dive roll. I don't think I would ever tire of seeing this breathtaking skill. Remember, it was the exclamation point that completed that memorable back-to-back pass by 1985 world champion Oksana Omelianchik. And refuting the notion that more is always better in gymnastics, I don't think I'd like to see a double-twisting Arabian dive roll. Ever.

• Morgan Hamm's Airflare is really cool, even if it's been done already by B-Boys. However, to incorporate it in a floor routine could bring new fans to the sport.

Uneven Bars

• In the 1970s the sole circle-1.5 twist was a rare skill because it was difficult. It's no longer performed since routines are based on the giant swing now. But with the bars farther apart today, it would be interesting to see the sole circle-1.5 twist to a Pak Salto.

• Nastia Liukin (among others) performs an Ono turn (which unwinds a gymnast from an elgrip to undergrip) immediate half pirouette. How about an Ono turn immediate full pirouette back to elgrip? That's a double pirouette. The current rule that requires pirouettes to finish near a handstand might preclude this combination, but maybe not for long.

• During her lengthy career, Svetlana Khorkina performed several different elements that took her from the low bar to the high bar, but my favorite was the Stalder-hecht she used only briefly. From a handstand on the low (back facing high), she dropped into a Stalder. But just when you thought she would complete her ascent to a handstand, she simply let go and caught the high bar. It was beautiful and unexpected. I can only guess that it also was inconsistent, because she didn't keep it for long. Or perhaps her coach, Boris Pilkin, had already invented that crazy, whirling Shaposhnikova she used for years.

Balance Beam

• More gainers in combination: cartwheel, layout gainer; flip-flop step-out, layout gainer; flip-flop step-out, gainer back handspring; layout step-out, gainer back handspring. The list goes on.

• No-handed forward roll.

Men's Vault

• Roundoff onto the board, half turn-on, handspring-double front. It's worth 6.8, which isn't too shabby.

Parallel Bars

• I must admit, when I first saw Shinji Morisue chuck a tucked double back to upper arms at the 1984 Olympics, something inside me said it wasn't good gymnastics. Not that it wasn't difficult, mind you. I just didn't think it belonged on the event. I had a hard enough time accepting bent legs on giant swings, but throwing a skill on p-bars in the tucked position seemed to show complete disregard for tradition.

Well, these doubles have overtaken what was once a beautiful event. So if they're here to stay, how about following them with something other than a front uprise? And let's be honest, some of the front uprises we see after Morisues are skidding, arm-scraping, reverse push-ups. Still others employ a small kipping action to reach a full support. Why not do a simple back shoulder roll? Or better yet, one of those interesting slip-kips, where the gymnast reaches back from the upper arms, catches in a piked inverted swing, then kips to a support. And if you're really strong, maybe a Streuli? Or back shoulder roll to Streuli! See, the combinations are endless!

• Back uprise, straddle cut, peach. Some gymnasts used to do a straddle cut immediate cast to upper arms. They didn't catch the straddle cut in a support, but instead reached in front for the regrasp. It was eye-catching and flowing. Perhaps this could also be done to a peach-handstand. Perhaps not. (Combinations always seem possible while dreaming, but prove impossible rather quickly when attempted for real.)

Horizontal Bar

• More dismounts in combination with release elements. A Tkatchev seems the best candidate to link directly to a dismount, since the gymnast usually has plenty of swing and has time to tap after regrasping.

• With Takemotos on the rise again, how about a Takemoto to double undergrip immediate half pirouette (or full pirouette to elgrip)?

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