...having asked
about:

The New Apparatus on Vault

German

The FIG had announced (2000, October the 9th) that from 2001-01-01 a new apparatus on vault (a vaulting table) will be used for men and women. It will be taken for the first time at the World championships in Gent/ Belgium (October 2001). GYMmedia had already published the prototypes by the first two producers, "Pegasus" by "janssen&fritsen", Helmond/ Netherlands and "Ergojet" by the company SPIETH, Esslingen/ Germany. In the meantime has received many enquiries from all over the world and now wants to ask the producers some more detailed questions (a report about "Pegasus" by "janssen&fritsen" will follow shortly):

...having asked about, today:

INTERVIEW with Ullrich SPIETH about the new "Ergojet"

There must be some reasons that a producer of gymnastics apparatus breaks rigorously with a centuries-old tradition and invents a new prototype. Which reasons are this? U. SPIETH:   We don’t break an old tradition with this new apparatus on vault. During the years it has become clear that a development is necessary due to safety reasons. The vaults get more and more difficult but the apparatus has remained the same.

Ergojet 2000

So changes have been inevitable. Also with former developments, like e.g. the Reuther springboard, the uneven bars fixed with ropes, the padded beam etc. SPIETH has brought new accents to the development of gymnastics apparatus and their philosophy has been that the health of the gymnast is always the most important aspect. Therefore after many discussions since 1993 also on this field a change has been unavoidable.

    The World trademark SPIETH has expressly played itself to the gallery with the new vaulting table which will be used in a competition for the first time at the World championships 2001. How did it come to this creation?

U. SPIETH:   During the World championships 1993 in Birmingham the FIG Vice-president Siegfried Funk pointed out to the producers of gymnastics equipment that the horse on vault had to be developed further. At that point of time no one of them reacted – except for SPIETH. Already in 1994 we had presented to the FIG the first prototype which of course was still quite similar to the old horse. In 1996 we agreed on a co-operation with Helmut Hödlmoser from Austria, coach and sculptor, who had a new idea for us. We were enthusiastic about it and developed a prototype which was presented for the first time to the responsible persons from the FIG, the international experts and the press at the World championships in Lausanne in 1997.

    How much has "the practice" been involved to the development? Have the persons affected, meaning the athletes, taken part, if so, how...?

U. SPIETH:   At the beginning we had to approach the whole spectrum of possibilities on vault. There only the coach Helmut Hödlmoser and our development team were needed. When the first "Ergojets" which could be used for gymnastics were ready we further tested them with the IAT ( Institute for Applied Training Science ) Leipzig and the training centre Leonding/ Austria.

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Ullrich Spieth in 1998 with an early version at the UEG congress in Bratislava

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World championships vault finalist Tschernitschek/GER tests in practice (1997)

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Ullrich Spieth explains the changes: The ascent isn’t there anymore!

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Then we offered to the FIG to test this new vaulting table internationally which they readily accepted. The FIG gave us 5 training centres world-wide: Lilleshall/ England, Cincinnati and Colorado Springs/ USA, Milan/ Italy and Moscow/ Russia. In addition to this a few vaulting tables went to Hungary and Romania.

    How long does it take for an elite athlete to rearrange and which development on vault can you predict?

U. SPIETH:   Regarding our experiences, already after a few vaults athletes can reach their competition level. The results seen up to now show that adapting from the usual horse to the new vaulting table is easier than the other way round. Due to the new shape of the apparatus and the support of the vault more difficult vaults will be shown in future. But this is a normal development if you consider comparisons to changes at other apparatus.

     Which process of authorisation has still to follow or is it already clear which apparatus of the new category will be used at the next World championships?

U. SPIETH:  The FIG has published guidelines enabling every producer of gymnastics equipment to build a new vault apparatus. As soon as an examination in one of the institutes of the FIG has been passed successfully, also such kind of apparatus from other producers can be used in competitions. So at first it has to be seen which apparatus will pass the test successfully. Only then it will be known which producer will get a look-in.

    It looks like that with its characteristics, like adjustable height and optimal conditions for support, the apparatus can not only be used for men and women but also for different levels of age and performance...?!

U. SPIETH:   Your statement is absolutely right. This apparatus can be used for all levels of age and performance! Of course it is up to each national federation if it generally permits this apparatus or if it is decided from one case to the next due to reasons of distribution. It is certain that at the moment no producer can deliver to the whole world market. Surely there are federations and clubs which want to use this apparatus immediately. It will be used at first in official training centres of the federations which will send their athletes to the World championships.

     This is really a small gymnastics revolution. Will this in the end bring a change of apparatus also to school gyms?

U. SPIETH:      "We from SPIETH could once again set a new sign internationally for the benefit and the health of the gymnasts. As said before it is up to the federations at which competitions the new apparatus on vault will be used. It certainly will take a couple of years until all clubs and training centres will have purchased new apparatus. I can’t jet imagine this apparatus to be used in school gyms as for safety reasons it is heavy and in a sports lesson at school you don’t have the time to fix it. But I can imagine that with the support of a club this apparatus could also be used in a school gym."

    Certainly this apparatus will be different from the high-tech version of elite sports? What kind of plans and concepts has SPIETH for this?

U. SPIETH:   We try to design the apparatus in that kind of way so that it will be multifunctional. Being a producer of "high-tech apparatus" we cannot develop another version for schools due to reasons of costs. But where clubs use school gyms surely the new vaulting tables can be taken.

There are many questions from all over the world – this is why we do this interview, thank you very much – but almost everybody asks for the price. How much will one "Ergojet" cost...?

U. SPIETH:     The way things stand at the moment, ex works c. DM 5,480  (2,740 Euro).
This is the first calculation, there might be slight changes concerning the price.

The interview with Ullrich Spieth from SPIETH Gymnastic/ Esslingen
was made by Eckhard Herholz/ GYMmedia;
Translation: Lisa Worthmann
(...please regard also "ERGOJET-PRESENTATION" by the company Spieth)

German version