Olympic Trampoline

Olympic Trampolines

Though they provide a unique mixture of gymnastics, astounding crowd appeal and rigorous training, trampoline gymnastics did not make its way into the official Olympic sports arena until the year 2000, at Sydney. The sport of Olympic trampolines is both a male and female sport, with Alexander Moskalenko and Irina Karavaeva winning the first gold medals in their categories. Olympic trampolines take place within the gymnastic arena, literally and in respect to training.

Olympic Size Trampoline

If you are really serious about competing, you have to become familiar with the materials and specifications in which an Olympic trampoline is constructed. The frame of an Olympic trampoline is made of a strong steel, but can still often be dismantled for easy portability to competition sites. The actual part where you jump on, or the “bed” is made out of a strong, usually woven fabric from webbing. The 2007 Olympics in Quebec City plan to use a bed, which is woven with individual strings.

Olympic Trampoline Scoring

To really excel at being an Olympic trampoline contender, you must familiarize yourself with the rules so that you can train accordingly and accrue maximum points. In the Olympics, the competition for men and women is an independent event.

To qualify for the medal round, the men and women performers display compulsory and optional routines. The final metal round consists of just an optional routine, allowing for the art of the sport to be observed.

For the compulsory routine, the gymnast must complete a certain set of skills and a very specific, predetermined order on the Olympic trampoline. The optional routine isn’t without rules; gymnasts must still complete 10 skills widely recognized by the judges.

Before the optional routine set, the skills need to be presented to the judges. However, when the gymnast performs these skills, they can be in any order.
Competitive trampoline gymnasts are not supposed to be repetitive; each skill is not to be repeated in a single routine. The judges will know that the performance is over when the gymnast ends a routine standing up straight with both feet on the bed. They have to show that their landing is solid, and must not change their footing or try not to wobble for at least three seconds, otherwise athletes will incur a point deduction.

Skills can be a variety of things, such as twists and summersaults. Each of these skills has a predetermined level of difficulty, with the score corresponding directly to the level of difficulty. While there is no time limit, gymnasts only have one try for each routine.