The handspring double salto forward tucked, known as a Produnova in women's artistic gymnastics and a Roche in men's artistic gymnastics, [1] [2] is a vault consisting of a front handspring onto the vaulting horse and two front somersaults in a tucked position off it.
The first person to complete the vault was Cuban gymnast Jorge Roche in 1980. [1]
23 Roche vaults were performed during the 2000 Summer Olympics. [3]
By 2010, male gymnasts had developed more difficult variations by performing it piked or with twists. [4]
Under the 2017–2020 Code of Points (artistic gymnastics) for WAG, the vault had a D-score of 6.4, [5] and is considered one of the hardest vaults ever performed in women's artistic gymnastics. [6] It is currently tied with the Biles vault as the vault with the second-highest D-score. It is named after Yelena Produnova of Russia, who was the first woman to complete it successfully in 1999. [7] Produnova's coach, Leonid Arkayev, bet her that she could not perform the vault. [1] The D-score of the Produnova has been slowly reduced over the quads from 7.1 (2009–2012), to 7.0 (2013–2016), to 6.4 (2017–2020). In the 2022-2024 Code of Points, it has been reduced to a D-score of 6.0. [8]
The vault is dangerous because a gymnast could break her neck if she fell short of two rotations. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Uzbek gymnast Oksana Chusovitina attempted the Produnova but fell. [9] The vault is termed the "vault of death" due to its high level of difficulty and likelihood of injury. [10] [11] [12] Asked why she did not perform the vault, Simone Biles stated, "I’m not trying to die." [9]
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Yurchenko, also known as round-off entry vaults, are a family of vaults performed in artistic gymnastics in which the gymnast does a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the horse or vaulting table. The gymnast then performs a salto, which may range in difficulty from a simple single tuck to a triple twist layout. Different variations in the difficulty of the salto lead to higher D-scores. This family of vaults is the most common type of vault in gymnastics and it's named after Natalia Yurchenko, who first performed it in 1982.
Yelena Sergeyevna Produnova, also known as Elena, is a Russian former competitive gymnast. Her senior international career lasted from 1995 to 2000 and earned her multiple world and Olympic medals. She was known for her innovative and powerful skills on the vault and floor exercise. One of the most difficult vaults in women's gymnastics, the Produnova, is named after her. With a D-score of 6.4, the Produnova vault is tied with the Biles as having the highest D-score in women's vault in the 2017–2020 quadrennium.
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Front or forward handspring vaults begin with a front handspring onto the vaulting table, followed by a salto. There are many variations of handspring vaults, including the handspring double salto forward tucked.