The technic on Pommel horse
The oldest description of gymnastics on an artificial horse is over 600 years old. It was written by a Renatus Vegetius , who, in his four volume “Overview of the Roman Army”, describes soldiers using a wooden horse for practice. In the 17th century a drill- instructor developed the art of equestrian acrobatics from this description. In the early 19th century the wooden pommels were replaced by a biegel, and the wooden horse developed into a schwingel' covered in leather.
Today's fascinating and dynamic routines on a modern pommel horse are hardly reminiscent of the early forms of movement on this apparatus. The development was massively influenced by the flexible and innovative solutions offered by renowned apparatus manufacturers...


German

Trends of  Pommel Horse Routines of the Past Five Decades (II)
(by Heinz Neumann, international judge for many years)

 ...back to 50er-60er Jahre  


Heinz Neumann

About the author

Potsdam native Heinz Neumann (born November 20, 1931) was a coach at the former Army Sports Club "ASK Potsdam" in Potsdam,. Germany, from 1954  to 1992. He also served as head coach for the GDR team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Later on, he, who has always loved paying special attention to details, focussed on the specialities of the most complex of apparatus, pommel horse.
He was the first A judge in history (i.e. second head judge, responsible for difficulty and special requirements) and was a judge at every major international competition from 1965 to 1971. He judged his first competition in 1958 and continued judging internationally until the mid 1990s, and is an active judge until this day.

Heinz Neumann is considered one of the most knowledgeable pommel horse experts world wide, who has a particular reputation of having a knack for details.

.
 The 1970s - The Magyar Years


Zoltan Magyar

Hungarian pommel horse virtuoso Zoltan Magyar heavily contributed to the development of pommel horse work Further structural improvements to the horse facilitated these developments.

It would take a few more years for the old name "side horse" to make way for "pommel horse". The "Magyar spindle" is to this day a specifically Hungarian element of the highest difficulty which is rarely shown.

The innovation of the Thomas flairs, which had actually been performed by Canadian Delesalle before Kurt Thomas (USA) at the 1976 Olympics, was a sensation. Soon, gymnasts started constructing entire routines from this type of elements, forcing the FIG's technical committee to put a stop to this by changing the code of points.

The 1980s -cultivation of the Thomas flairs

Gymnasts used Thomas flairs in any possible variation in their routines. Combined with handstands, turns in handstand, they still remain one of the most common dismount combinations to this day.

 


Swings in the straddled position were brought to handstand by most gymnasts in the early 1980s.
 Li Ning showed a spectacular front scissor with ¼ turn. But fear of possibly pausing in handstand and the ensuing deductions stood in the way of an inflation of such elements.

 
 
The 1990s spindles with turns

The first half of the 1990s was marked by the flaired spindles with 1/2 turns and the full spindle in one or two circles. These were missing from hardly any top routine. Gymnasts began showing various support positions on the apparatus.  
When these elements were downgraded, they disappeared from most routines.

A new millennium of gymnastics no more flops

The new rules no longer allow the endless combinations of bonus elements, like the "quadruple flop" which generated 0,6 in bonus alone. Only one flop is allowed now (immediate Stoeckli B on one pommel, 0,2 in bonus). The maximum bonus for this is now 0,3 (instead of the previous 1,1 pts).

Autor: Heinz Neumann, Potsdam;
(Bearbeitung und Gestaltung:  E.Herholz, GYMmedia)


Marius Urzica - the "pommel artist" of the Nineties.

.
.    J&F-NAVIGATION  

 

 

 

 

 

.