Yelena Davydova - Special Skills

Special Skills

In terms of difficulty Elena advanced the sport of gymnastics extended its limits and is one of a select few to have introduced a new move and/or trend on each piece of apparatus. Brian Bakalar, owner and head coach at Gymnastics Revolution in Bethel, Connecticut, U.S. wrote on his website in 2004 that "In the late 1970s Elena Davydova first performed a skill that has become the basis for today's optional uneven bar routines – the Giant". Indeed, Davydova advanced the difficulty of gymnastics through the introduction of her moves, and is one of a select few to have introduced a new move and/or trend on each piece of apparatus. Davydova was the first female gymnast to perform a Giant and a Tkatchev on bars; a front tuck and side-somi on the beam, a round-off flic-flac, which led to many of the different dismounts we have today; a 1½ twist, punch front combination, an Arabian 1¾ somersault, and a piked Arabian 1¾ somersault on floor (both Arabian 1¾ moves removed from the code of points for female gymnasts by the FIGin 1993 for health and safety reasons. Effectively banned because of their danger and difficulty.This skill was also forbidden to male gymnasts at the 2010 Youth Olympics); on vault she invented the full twist-on, tucked front somersault off. This is worth 9.7 points, 25 years later today. Many gymnasts in 1980 performed the layout Tsukahara vault, now worth 9.1 under the current Code of Points.This famous vault she invented created an entire different vault family in the COP. Vera Atkinson,FIG World of Gymnastics,”Three of the Greatest”,March 2008,p. 8-9,”Gymnastics high tech contributor…Pundits describe Davydova’s contribution to the technical development of the sport as being unique”.