Handspring double salto forward tucked

"Vault of death" redirects here. For the Thunderbirds episode, see Vault of Death (Thunderbirds).

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.

A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing the vault at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Men's Artistic Gymnastics

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]

Women's Artistic Gymnastics

Under the 2017–2020 Code of Points (artistic gymnastics) for WAG, the vault has a D-score of 6.4,^[5] and is considered one of the hardest vaults ever performed in women's artistic gymnastics.^[6] It currently ties for the highest D-score on this apparatus with the Biles vault. 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) and now 6.4 (2017–2020).

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.^[8] The vault is termed the "vault of death" due to its high level of difficulty and likelihood of injury.^[9][10][11] Asked why she did not perform the vault, Simone Biles stated, "I’m not trying to die."^[8]

Gymnasts who have successfully completed the Produnova

•   Yelena Produnova (RUS)^[12] (1999)
•   Yamilet Peña (DOM)^[13] (2011)^[14]
•   Fadwa Mahmoud (EGY)^[14][15] (2014)
•   Dipa Karmakar (IND) (2014^[16][17] and 2016)^[8]
•   Oksana Chusovitina (UZB)^[14]

References

1. "The Produnova vault: a leap for Artistic Gymnastics at the 1999 Summer Universiade". www.fisu.net. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
2. Čuk, Ivan; Ferkolj, S. M. (2012). "Changes in technique of handspring double salto forward tucked performed on horse and vaulting table". Acta Kinesiologiae Universitatis Tartuensis. 13: 20. doi:10.12697/akut.2008.13.02.
3. Takei, Yoshiaki (2007). "The roche vault performed by elite gymnasts: somersaulting technique, deterministic model, and judges' scores". Journal of Applied Biomechanics. 23 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1123/jab.23.1.1. ISSN 1065-8483. PMID 17585174.
4. Ferkolj, M. (2010). "A kinematic analysis of the handspring double salto forward tucked on a new style of vaulting table". Science of Gymnastics Journal. 2 (1): 35–48.
5. "2013 FIG Vault Value Table" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. FIG. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
6. . Gymnastike. 27 September 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
7. Cohen, Ben; Radnofsky, Louise (7 August 2016). "The Vault That Is Too Wild for Simone Biles". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
8. Sloat, Sarah. "Why Simone Biles Won't Attempt the "Vault of Death"". Inverse. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
9. Roman Stubbs (14 August 2016). "Hoping to beat Simone Biles, 41-year-old Uzbek gymnast attempts the 'vault of death'". Washington Post.
10. "Why Dipa Karmakar's Produnova is a vault of death". DNA India. 19 April 2016.
11. Daniel Tran (14 August 2016). "Two gymnasts attempt the 'Vault of Death' (Video)". Yahoo Sports.
12. "Elena Produnova Sticks World's Most Difficult Vault". WOGymnastika. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
13. Lawrence, Blythe (8 October 2012). "Memorable Moments From Prelims". ESPN. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
14. Talwar, Sushant (13 August 2016). "'Produnova', The 'Vault Of Death'; Only 5 Women Have Nailed It". TheQuint. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
15. "video: Fadwa Mahmoud (EGY) 14.950". youtube. 29 March 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
16. "After a flight, a landing: Why Dipa Karmakar's medal in Commonwealth Games is its bravest bronze". The Indian Express. 2014-08-24. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
17. "Why Dipa Karmakar's Produnova is a vault of death | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 2016-04-20.