Fitness:Rare from Sportsworld

Produnova Technique

Lets get familiar with one of the most significant and effective fitness technique used by the professional gymansts to enhance or i should be saying,to boost up their chances of winning.

                                               

Image showing how the vault is performed.

The Produnova vault is a part of artistic gymnastics, and it technically consists of a front handspring that erupts into a double somersault. In simple words, this vault sees an athlete sprint up and catapult high into the air, completing two somersaults before landing safely.

       This vault is considered to be the most difficult and dangerous manoeuvre in gymnastics by many professionals all over the globe. The Produnova is considered extremely risky and not many have attempted it; there are only five women in the world till date who have landed the vault successfully. It has a difficulty rating of 7.0, the highest of all. If an athlete does land this perfectly, there is almost a guaranteed chance of winning the event. 

       Experts say that if it is not performed with perfect calculation, the athlete may land on her back or neck instead of the feet which may lead the player to a major injury or even death. But despite the high risk, gymnasts attempt the vault as it can get them higher rewards and a chance to win over their opponents. It can quickly boost the player’s score and is worth significantly more than the other vaults.

       As quoted in The Wall Street Journal, US Olympic judge Cheryl Hamilton said that the Produnova is worth a lot more than other vaults, even if the landing is not perfect, thanks to the high difficulty level. There have been discussions to rewrite the scoring system next year in part to discourage people from attempting the dangerous vault. The report also stated that this vault is largely dismissed by the gymnasts from the USA as they consider this part of the event as a gamble, but they score typically well in the other events.

HISTORY

     

        The name of the technique is given as a tribute to the Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova,also known as Elena. Her name was given to the vault after she successfully performed the vault in 1999. On her successful landing on her feet she said that she was blessed by the nature and God had made her powerful and quick.

       

        Yelena Produnova  had a brilliant career with multiple awards both at national as well as international level,although she could not win gold in the Olympics, she did secure a silver and bronze. Her international career lasted from 1995 to 2000 and she showed strong performances in many other major events ranging from University games, European Championships to World Championships and secured a decent number of medals including gold, silver and bronze.

Accidental attempts

       Before Produnova,North Korea's tried to attemp the vault but she landed on her neck in 1980 during Olympics.

      The list of participants who have successfully performed the vault is not very long but it is bigger than the list of unsuccessful landings.  The list of successful Produnova vault performers carries only five names which includes:

 Yelena Produnova 

( from Russia herself being the first )

Yamilet Peña

( from the Dominican Republic )

Oksana Chusovitina

( from Uzbekistan )

the Egyptian gymnast Fadwa Mahmoud

 Dipa Karmakar 

( from India )

      Controversies around the Produnova vault began when the amazing Egyptian gymnast Mahmoud almost killed herself by nearly landing on her neck in her first competitive attempt. She represented the Egyptian National Team at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.