Women’s gymnastics: It’s no monkey business

Women’s gymnastics: It’s no monkey business

Spectators often overlook the dangers faced by gymnasts on vault
and bars

By Esther Hui

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

In team sports you have game strategy. In swimming and running
you have varying pace. But few athletes possess the dynamic
versatility of an all-around gymnast, who must be able to compete
in four completely different events in an evening, refocusing every
half hour on a new apparatus and a different set of high risk
moves.

Which event is the most difficult? Which event is more fun? For
the gymnasts, each of the vault, bars, beam and floor is its own
sport, with its own quirks and approach for success.

The quickest event is the vaulting exercise, in which the
gymnast sprints down an 80-foot runway, punches off of a
springboard, and performs varying combinations of twists and flips
before and after the vaulting horse.

The best vaulters must have quick reactions. While the other
events last about a minute and a half, a vault is over in a few
seconds.

"To be a good vaulter you need a lot of speed and upper body
strength," UCLA head coach Valerie Kondos said. "You have to be
able to get on and off the horse extremely quickly, and you have to
have a good ear sense to know when the ground is coming."

The most technically difficult vaults being performed in
collegiate women’s gymnasts this year are the handspring front pike
and the handspring front flip with a half twist, performed by five
of the six Bruin gymnasts. On the international scene, the most
common and perhaps most dangerous vault is the Yurchenko, which is
not allowed on the college level. This is a blind vault in which
the gymnast does a round-off onto the springboard and then flips
backward onto the horse. Freshman Stella Umeh competed this vault
internationally before coming to UCLA.

"A lot of people do the same vaults," senior Kareema Marrow
said. "But it’s the quicker and more powerful vaults that look
better."

* * *

The uneven bars event is one of the most beautiful events to
watch. The gymnasts never stop moving on this event, swinging and
flipping in between and over the two bars. A handstand on the
highest bar puts the gymnasts at over 15 feet in the air and is
breathtaking for the spectators. However, the fluidity which
appears easy to the crowd doesn’t always come naturally to the
gymnasts.

"To be a good bar worker you have to have the sense of a
monkey," Kondos said. "You have to have an innate swing, and you’re
born with it. There’s a difference between athletes who work the
event and who swing the event. That’s why Megan Fenton is called
the monkey around the gym."

Said Fenton, "There’s a certain feel you have to get for the
bars. Higher level gymnasts make it look easier than it really is
but it takes a lot of strength. Everything on bars is timing. When
you’re doing release moves you have to let go of the bar at the
right time or you catch too close or too far."

Anyone who has attended a gymnastics meet can attest to the
importance of timing. In several release moves which come after
giant swings, the gymnast will let go of the bar, do a partial flip
and turn to re-grasp ­ only to crash to the mats because she
had swung too far from the bar. Gymnasts will tell you it’s about
the closest you can come to flying, however.

"It’s a fun event," junior Dee Fischer said. "Especially on the
release tricks when you get to fly through the air."

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team has one of the strongest bar
lineups in the country, with both Fenton and Marrow performing "E"
level moves, the most technically difficult in the score book.
Fenton, who scored a perfect 10.0 on the event in 1993, is training
a giant swing with a full twisting hop at the top, to hopefully be
revealed at this weekend’s UCLA invitational. Marrow won the event
with a 9.925 at the last home meet on Jan. 28 after sticking a
double layout dismount.