Gymnastics
Gymnast Simone Biles creates history with Yurchenko Double Pike. What is it?
Traditionally performed only by men, the Yurchenko Double Pike is one of the tougher moves to land in artistic gymnastics
Simone Biles does a Yurchenko Double Pike
One of the greatest gymnasts of all time, Simone Biles made headlines a couple of days back when she became the first woman in history of Gymnastics to successfully land the Yurchenko Double Pike move in a competition.
Competing in the GK US Classic in Indianapolis, the 24-year-old World Champion successfully pulled off the Yurchenko Double Pike to clinch the gold medal.
What exactly is Yurchenko Double Pike?
Traditionally performed only by men, the Yurchenko Double Pike is one of the tougher moves to land in artistic gymnastics.
To get a better understanding of the Yurchenko Double Pike, let us break it into parts:
Yurchenko
Yurchenko is the name of a vault family as well as a specific vault used in Artistic Gymnastics. The vault is named after former Soviet Union gymnast Natalia Yurchenko who attempted it for the first time.
In a basic Yurchenko Vault, the gymnast does a round-off on to the springboard and a back handspring on to the vaulting table. He or she then performs one or more summersaults depending on how much difficulty level they want to attempt.
Pike
Pike is a type of structure a gymnast's body is in while he or she performs a flip.
A gymnast's body form is basically categorised into four forms when he or she perform's a flip – Aerial, Layout, Tuck and Pike.
At its core, while indulging in a pike, a gymnast usually has bent hips, straight knees and with the legs attached together.
A double pike is when the gymnast completes two flips or somersaults with his or her body in a pike form.
Yurchenko Double Pike
In essence, the Yurchenko Double Pike is when a gymnast does a round-off on to the springboard and back handspring on the Yurchenko vault and then performs two flips with the body in the form of a pike.
