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]
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]