Elena Produnova - one of the most beautiful and powerful gymnasts ever
Ahead of today's Commonwealth Games WAG vault final, where India's Dipa Karmakar will attempt her handspring double front vault, I just wanted to take the opportunity to remind people that it IS possible to perform this risky skill safely and well.
Produnova cowboys this attempt but it is high, flighty and well landed. She was ahead of her time, launching into space off an old-style vaulting horse that did not offer the benefits of the new vaulting table.
Dipa Karmakar (see video below) has managed to qualify to event finals at the Commonwealth Games as a consequence of a difficult vault performed very poorly.
The second vault scored 14.4 with an E score of 7.4. The difficulty value of the Produnova is 7 - almost a mark higher than the Amanar vault that is otherwise considered to be the acme of women's vaulting achievement. Karmakar barely gets her feet on the ground first - and certainly doesn't have enough control to stop the forward rotation as she lands.
I wonder if she will do any better today?
Some people will call for the vault to be banned as unsafe, but I don't think that is the answer when we have evidence that it is possible to do it well. The problem is that gymnasts are encouraged to risk life and limb because they can achieve excessive scores with very poor technique. The judging just doesn't penalise fully for an unsafe attempt.
Deduct, judges, deduct.