Olympic Trampoline

An official Olympic trampoline is the only type a gymnast can use at the Summer Olympic Games. Olympic trampolines are rectangular in shape, not round or octagon. An Olympic size trampoline measures 14’ by 7’. It can not be any smaller or larger.

Olympic trampoline athletes fall under the regulating body of the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) since 1999. Prior to this, trampolining was ruled by FIT (International Trampolining Federation). When the two groups merged, an article of submission included the admittance of trampoline as an Olympic event. Trampoliners faced off at the Summer Olympic Games in 2000 as an individual gymnastic sport with the awardingof Olympic trampoline medals. The game in 2004 saw Anna Dogonadze of Germany the gold Olympic trampoline winner for women and Yuri Nikitin of the Ukraine go home with the gold medal for men.

Olympic trampoline scoring is based on a system of a skills and a degree of difficulty (DOD) for each skill. In the Olympics, men and women compete in individual and separate trampoline events. Each gymnast performs two or three routines, compulsory or optional, on an Olympic gymnastics trampoline. These routines consist of a variety of integrated moves including basic body positions and more complex twists and somersaults. The routines do not have a time limit.

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During the routine on the gymnastics Olympic trampoline, the performer places his body into pikes, straight positions or tucks. Except for straddle jumps, the toes must always point and be together. In all, he or she completes 10 separate skills for each optional routine. The 10 skills are performed in any order, but the gymnast must submit the 10 recognizable skills in advance to the judges. At the end of the routine, the gymnast must be in an upright position, both feet firmly on the bed of the trampoline. He or she must hold this position for at least three seconds.

It is not merely the holding of or completion of the skills that earns the gymnast marks. It is not simply that the gymnast did not step out of the center mark of the modern gymnastics trampoline. The gymnast needs to tap into the abilities and skills that define a higher level of gymnast. The DOD is a defining factor. The more difficult the degree of athleticism the trampoliner displays and completes, the higher the 10 judges will score the routine. As is the case with other gymnastic events, the judges mark on technical ability and style.