The vault is an artistic gymnastics apparatus which gymnasts perform on, as well as the skill performed using that apparatus. Vaulting is also the action of performing a vault. Both male and female gymnasts perform the vault. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is VT.
Yelena Viktorovna Davydova is a Russian-Canadian gymnastics coach and judge who competed for the former Soviet Union. She was the women's artistic individual all-around champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and owns Gemini Gymnastics, a high performance Canadian gymnastics club in Oshawa, Ontario, where she is also the head coach. In July 2012, Davydova was one of the coaches of the Canadian Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team. Kristina Vaculik, coached by Davydova, was a member of the team, which placed fifth over-all in the team event, the best placement for a Canadian gymnastics team in Olympic history. In 2016, Davydova completed the circle, representing Canada as head floor judge at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Davydova was known for her cutting-edge difficulty, innovation and charming performances.
Anna Anatolyevna Pavlova is a Russian-born artistic gymnast who won two bronze medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and represented Russia in other international competitions. In 2002 she won the Russian National Championships.
Elena "Zamo" Mikhailovna Zamolodchikova is a Russian former artistic gymnast, and four-time Olympic medallist. She was known for her risky double-twisting double-backflip on floor and was one of only a handful of women to have successfully completed one. In 2015, she was inducted in the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
The men's vault competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 9 and 18 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium. The eight competitors with the highest scores in qualifying, among the gymnasts electing to make two vaults, proceeded to the men's vault finals. There, each gymnast performed two vaults; the scores from the final round determined final ranking. There were 16 competitors from 13 nations that made a second vault attempt. The event was won by Leszek Blanik of Poland, the nation's first victory in the men's vault. Blanik was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event, adding to his 2000 bronze. France earned its first medal in the event with Thomas Bouhail's silver. Anton Golotsutskov of Russia took bronze, putting the nation back on the podium after a one-Games absence.
Qualifications for Women's artistic gymnastic competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium on August 10. The results of the qualification determined the qualifiers to the finals: eight teams in the team final, 24 gymnasts in the all-around final, and eight gymnasts in each of four apparatus finals.
Ksenia Andreyevna Ablyazina is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2007 world champion on the uneven bars, the 2008 European champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam, and the 2009 European all-around champion. She also won a gold medal with the Russian team at the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics where she finished fourth in the team competition, fourth in the all-around, and sixth in the uneven bars final.
Ksenia Dmitrievna Afanasyeva is a retired Russian artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the 2011 world champion on floor exercise, the 2013 and 2015 European floor champion, and the 2013 Universiade vault and floor champion. Widely regarded as one of the most original and artistic gymnasts of all time, she retired from elite gymnastics in July 2016 due to kidney disease, a month away from the 2016 Summer Olympics, for which she was the Russian team's first alternate.
Kyla Briana Ross is a retired American artistic gymnast and current volunteer assistant coach for the Arkansas Razorbacks gymnastics team. She was an elite gymnast from 2009 to 2016 where she was a member of the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team. She was named to the 2012 Summer Olympic squad, dubbed the Fierce Five, which won the gold medal in the team competition. Ross was also a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Individually, she is the 2013 world all-around, uneven bars, and balance beam silver medalist and the 2014 world all-around bronze medalist.
Aliya Farkhatovna Mustafina is a retired Russian artistic gymnast and current coach. She is the 2010 all-around world champion, the 2013 European all around champion, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic uneven bars champion, and a seven-time Olympic medalist.
Larisa Andreea Iordache is a Romanian artistic gymnast. She is the current leader of the Romanian women's artistic gymnastics team, and represented Romania at the 2012 and 2020 Olympic Games.
Alexandra Rose Raisman is a retired American artistic gymnast and two-time Olympian. She was captain of both the 2012 "Fierce Five" and 2016 "Final Five" U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics teams, which won their respective team competitions.
Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova is a former Russian artistic gymnast. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won silver medals in the all-around and team events at the 2012 Olympics. She is also the 2011 world uneven bars champion and all-around silver medalist, and the 2015 co-world champion on uneven bars. At the junior level, she was the 2010 Youth Olympics all-around champion, uneven bars champion, vault champion, and floor exercise bronze medalist. Komova is known for her fluidity, form and old school Soviet style.
The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the International Federation of Gymnastics revealed it was considering moving the event, but on May 22 FIG president Bruno Grandi announced that the World Championships would take place in Tokyo as planned.
MyKayla Brooke Skinner Harmer is a retired American artistic gymnast. She is the 2020 Olympic vault silver medalist. She was previously an alternate for the 2016 Olympic team. Skinner competed at the 2014 World Championships where she contributed to the U.S. team's gold medal, also winning an individual bronze medal on vault. She has won 11 total medals at the USA National Championships during her senior career and competed for the University of Utah's gymnastics team and is a two-time NCAA champion.
Seda Gurgenovna Tutkhalyan is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2014 Youth Olympic Games Individual All-around champion and a 2016 Summer Olympics Team silver medalist.
The Final Five was the United States women's team in artistic gymnastics that won the team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was the United States' third gold medal in the event and second outside the United States. The five members of the team were Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian, and Aly Raisman, with MyKayla Skinner, Ragan Smith, and Ashton Locklear serving as the three alternates. After the team event, Biles won a gold medal in the individual all-around event, the vault, and on floor exercise and won a bronze on the balance beam, while Kocian won a silver in the uneven bars. The previous team to medal in every event, including the team and individual all-around, was the Unified Team at the 1992 Games; the only previous U.S. team to do so was at the boycott-reduced 1984 Games.
Jade Ashtyn Carey is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She is the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exercise. She was a member of the teams that won gold at the 2019 World Championships and the 2018 Pan American Championships. Individually on vault she is the 2017 and 2019 World silver medalist, the 2018 Pan American champion, and the 2017 United States national champion. On floor exercise she is the 2017 World silver medalist and the 2018 Pan American champion. She is a five-time member of the United States women's national gymnastics team (2017–present).
The women's vault event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 1 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Unlike other the other apparatus events, vault requires gymnasts to perform two exercises in order for results to count towards the vault final; most of the gymnasts perform only one or none. Approximately 20 gymnasts from 15 nations competed two vaults in the qualifying round.
The women's balance beam event at the 2020 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July and 3 August 2021 at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. Approximately 90 gymnasts from 53 nations are expected to compete on the balance beam in the qualifying round.
