Simone Biles debuted her Yurchenko double pike vault at the U.S. Classic last month. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

Four decades ago, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, a gymnastics coach envisioned a future that included more flips, more twists and more difficulty on every event. At his training facility, he and his fellow coaches would instruct beginners to jump from a balcony into a foam pit as a way to gauge their fearlessness.

Natalia Yurchenko arrived at that club from Siberia at age 11. Her coach then noticed her potential and took her to Rostov-on-Don to introduce her to Vladislav Rastorotsky, the innovator who was imagining how the best young gymnasts might challenge the sport’s limits. Yurchenko didn’t return home. She began training in Rastorotsky’s gym and attended boarding school. She practiced multiple times per day with other talented girls.

“It was just a dream life for a gymnast,” said Yurchenko, who went on to become the 1983 all-around world champion.

During one practice, Rastorotsky had an idea: Gymnasts always had jumped toward the vault facing forward, but he envisioned a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto a vault they couldn’t see. It seemed inconceivable. But when Yurchenko and her teammates first practiced the skill over mats, rather than the horse, it seemed possible — and more powerful than other techniques.

Yurchenko debuted the vault in an international competition in 1982, and this entry with a round-off back handspring has carried her name since. Even then, as she and the other gymnasts experimented with more difficult vaults into the foam pit, she wondered how much her eponymous skill could evolve. So as she watched Simone Biles recently take this skill to unparalleled heights, Yurchenko felt overwhelmed.

Biles became the first female gymnast to perform a double-flipping Yurchenko at the U.S. Classic two weeks ago. In doing so, she thrust this skill into the spotlight. Kerri Strug performed a version of the Yurchenko (with a one-and-a-half twist), landing it on an injured ankle at the 1996 Olympics. So did McKayla Maroney, the 2012 Olympian with a near-perfect two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko in the team final.

At gymnastics’ highest levels, Yurchenko vaults are as prevalent as fastballs in baseball, but until Biles soared off the table and completed two flips rather than one, the term had never truly pierced the world outside gymnastics.

“It’s as important as it gets,” said Christian Gallardo, the coach of Gabby Douglas entering the 2016 Olympics and now Olympic hopeful Shilese Jones. “Your fundamentals and strength are probably your water for your gymnastics, and doing Yurchenkos is probably like a food group. That’s your protein or your vegetables.”

Assuming Biles successfully performs the Yurchenko double pike at the Olympics, it will become the fifth skill named for her. But it also will remain part of the Yurchenko family of vaults.

Growing up in the Soviet Union, Yurchenko read books about high-achieving individuals in various pursuits — music, mountain climbing, anything — and it left her with similar aspirations.

“You were dreaming that, ‘Okay, if I accomplish something in life, I need to do it that big that it would stay in history for the future generation,’” said Yurchenko, who now teaches these vaults at a club she owns in Chicago. “I still cannot believe that dream really came true.”

‘The fear is real’

Vaults are categorized into groups based on their entry — what happens onto the springboard and table before the flip. Tsukahara vaults, named for Japan’s Mitsuo Tsukahara, have a forward entry in which a gymnast punches off the springboard and does a round-off onto the vault. Other vaults require a gymnast to perform a front handspring onto the table. In the Yurchenko, the flipping off the table garners the most attention, but the round-off onto the springboard is key; that’s the piece Gallardo says he spends the most time perfecting with his gymnasts.

Most Yurchenko vaults have

the same entry:

1.

A round-off onto the springboard

2.

A back handspring onto the vaulting table

3.

But where they change is in the flip that comes after your hands leave the vault

Vaulting

table

Springboard

Landing

mat

Runway

Hand

placement

mat

The round-off turns

a gymnast around so she can dive backward onto

the vault.

Some Yurchenko-style vaults require

a gymnast to twist during the back handspring as she reaches for the vault, but the majority of the variation comes during the flip.

Most Yurchenko vaults have the same entry:

1.

A round-off onto the springboard

2.

A back handspring onto the vaulting table

3.

But where they change is in the flip that comes after your hands leave the vault

Vaulting

table

Springboard

Landing

mat

Runway

Hand

placement

mat

The round-off turns

a gymnast around so she can dive backward onto

the vault.

Some Yurchenko-style vaults require a gymnast to twist during the back handspring as she reaches for the vault, but the majority of the variation comes during the flip.

Most Yurchenko vaults have the same entry:

1.

A round-off onto the springboard

2.

A back handspring onto the vaulting table

3.

But where they change is in the flip that comes after your hands leave the vault

Vaulting

table

Landing mat

Springboard

Runway

Hand

placement

mat

The round-off turns

a gymnast around so she can dive backward onto

the vault.

Some Yurchenko-style vaults require a gymnast to twist during the back handspring as she reaches for the vault, but the majority of the variation comes during the flip.

Most Yurchenko vaults have the same entry:

1.

A round-off onto the springboard

2.

A back handspring onto the vaulting table

3.

But where they change is in the flip that comes after your hands leave the vault

Vaulting

table

Runway

Hand placement mat

Springboard

Landing mat

Some Yurchenko-style vaults require a gymnast to twist during the back handspring as she reaches for the vault, but the majority of the variation comes during the flip.

The round-off turns a gymnast around so she can dive backward onto the vault.

Most Yurchenko vaults have the same entry:

1.

A round-off onto the springboard

2.

A back handspring onto the vaulting table

3.

But where they change is in the flip that comes after your hands leave the vault

Vaulting

table

Runway

Hand placement mat

Springboard

Landing mat

Some Yurchenko-style vaults require a gymnast to twist during the back handspring as she reaches for the vault, but the majority of the variation comes during the flip.

The round-off turns a gymnast around so she can dive backward onto the vault.

“From the moment your feet hit the springboard to the moment your hands hit the table,” said Alex McMurtry, a former University of Florida gymnast and the 2018 NCAA vault champion, “that’s where the magic happens.”

When Yurchenko watches a vault, she looks for the push off the table, called the block, and she references Maroney as a perfect example. As a young kid, Maroney loved seeing how high she could flip, and this block came naturally for her. She jammed her arms into the table with her hands turned outward and exploded off the vault.

“You need that maximum pressure,” said Maroney, the 2011 and 2013 vault world champion. “It’s got to make the vault shake. But you cannot stay on the vault for more than literally a millisecond. It’s got to be a slap, then full speed coming off the vault.”

After the 2000 Olympics, the sport swapped the narrow horse (similar to the men’s pommel horse but without handles) for a three-foot wide, four-foot long, tongue-shaped table. That revolutionized the event, Yurchenko said. When learning her eponymous vault, she occasionally missed with her hands. The adrenaline of competition prompted unexpected power toward a narrow piece of equipment with little room for error. With the modern table, gymnasts can generate momentum without worrying about the precise placement of their hands.

Yurchenko tuck full

Natalia Yurchenko unveiled this new vault technique in 1982 at an international competition in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

One flip

One twist

Vaulting

horse

Springboard

Landing mat

She competed this version with a tucked full twist, as well as a Yurchenko vault with a layout and no twisting.

Yurchenko tuck full

Natalia Yurchenko unveiled this new vault technique in 1982 at an international competition in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

One flip

One twist

Vaulting

horse

Springboard

Landing mat

She competed this version with a tucked full twist, as well as a Yurchenko vault with a layout and no twisting.

Yurchenko tuck full

Natalia Yurchenko unveiled this new vault technique in 1982 at an international competition in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

One flip

One twist

She competed this version with a tucked full twist, as well as a Yurchenko vault with a layout and no twisting.

Vaulting

horse

Springboard

Landing mat

Yurchenko tuck full

Natalia Yurchenko unveiled this new vault technique in 1982 at an international competition in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

One flip

One

twist

She competed this version with a tucked full twist, as well as a Yurchenko vault with a layout and no twisting.

Vaulting

horse

Springboard

Landing mat

Yurchenko tuck full

Natalia Yurchenko unveiled this new vault technique in 1982 at an international competition in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

One flip

One

twist

She competed this version with a tucked full twist, as well as a Yurchenko vault with a layout and no twisting.

Vaulting

horse

Springboard

Landing mat

As Yurchenko vaults evolved, gymnasts added more twists to the flip. In 2000, Romanian Simona Amanar debuted a Yurchenko with a two-and-a-half twist. Numerous elite gymnasts, including Biles and Maroney, have performed the Amanar in competition, but more than two decades later, no woman has successfully performed a triple-twisting Yurchenko.

Yurchenko two-and-a-half (Amanar)

A handful of top vaulters have performed a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, but no woman has ever competed a triple.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Half

twist

Yurchenko two-and-a-half (Amanar)

A handful of top vaulters have performed a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, but no woman has ever competed a triple.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Half

twist

Yurchenko two-and-a-half (Amanar)

A handful of top vaulters have performed a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, but no woman has ever competed a triple.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Half

twist

Yurchenko two-and-a-half (Amanar)

A handful of top vaulters have performed a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, but no woman has ever competed a triple.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Half

twist

Yurchenko two-and-a-half (Amanar)

A handful of top vaulters have performed a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko, but no woman has ever competed a triple.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Half

twist

“I'm a quick twister, but if I don't have that block at a certain angle, the triple twist, no matter how hard you try, isn't going to work,” Biles said. “And it's a little bit risky to try to replicate that block every single time, so the double pike just seems a little bit more manageable for myself.”


McKayla Maroney performs on the vault during the 2012 Olympics in London. (Thomas Coex/AFP/GettyImages)

Maroney didn’t like triples, either, even though she practiced them with soft landing mats. She spent nearly six months when she was about 13 years old working on a Yurchenko double tuck before practicing the vault at a national team training camp. She remembers Martha Karolyi, then the national team coordinator, saying: “No, no, no. You are not doing that vault.” Maroney said Karolyi didn’t think the double-flipping Yurchenko was safe, and she never seriously considered it again for competition.

“The fear is real,” said Maroney, now 25 and living in California. “And I don’t know if Simone feels that way, but I definitely didn’t ever feel like: ‘Wow, this is a breeze. I feel good doing this vault.’”

Coaches worry about the risk. If a gymnast feels something is off during a twisting vault, she can more easily adjust in midair to an easier version. Double-flipping vaults don’t leave room for similar modifications, because the only safe way to land is by finishing the second flip.

“It was never worth it,” said Gallardo, who coached an elite gymnast, Nia Dennis, who practiced a Yurchenko double tuck into the pit with two mats. “But I always knew somebody was going to do it because I knew it was possible. I had seen it in my own athletes.”

Pushing the limits

Gymnastics is driven by these risk-reward calculations. In 2012, Amanars had a 6.5 difficulty value, compared with the 5.8 of the double twist. Now only four-tenths of a point separate those vaults, so Amanars have become less common. Jones, the current elite gymnast who trains with Gallardo, can do an Amanar but chooses to perform a clean double twist instead.

Yurchenko double full

Many elite gymnasts compete a Yurchenko with a double twist in a layout position. This is one of the most common vaults at top U.S. competitions.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Vaulting

table

Yurchenko double full

Many elite gymnasts compete a Yurchenko with a double twist in a layout position. This is one of the most common vaults at top U.S. competitions.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Vaulting

table

Yurchenko double full

Many elite gymnasts compete a Yurchenko with a double twist in a layout position. This is one of the most common vaults at top U.S. competitions.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Vaulting

table

Yurchenko double full

Many elite gymnasts compete a Yurchenko with a double twist in a layout position. This is one of the most common vaults at top U.S. competitions.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Vaulting

table

Yurchenko double full

Many elite gymnasts compete a Yurchenko with a double twist in a layout position. This is one of the most common vaults at top U.S. competitions.

One flip

First

twist

Second

twist

Vaulting

table

Elite male gymnasts, who use a higher vaulting table and generally have more power, already have performed double-flipping Yurchenkos in competition, but it’s still not common. Biles’s accomplishment is not just that she can do it; it’s that she executes it consistently enough to feel it’s safe for competition. On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike upright with no more than a couple of steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Gymnasts often practice skills that are much harder than what they will perform in competition. That experimentation keeps athletes engaged and might help with the simpler versions. Even in the 1980s, Yurchenko attempted double tucks when she vaulted over stacked mats into the pit. Biles said she tried double-flipping Yurchenkos for fun years ago. Last year, she trained those vaults as a way to develop her block off the table to improve her Amanar for the Tokyo Olympics. But after the Games were postponed for a year, the Yurchenko double pike seemed like a reasonable challenge.

“There's a girl who was born to break every record,” Yurchenko said of Biles. “And we are all so lucky to live in a time when she's here and performing those upgraded skills for us.”

Yurchenko double pike

Simone Biles became the first woman to compete a double-flipping Yurchenko last month, and this vault will be named for her once she successfully performs it at the Olympics.

First flip

Second flip

Biles said she chose to flip in a piked position, rather than a tuck, because it is easier for her to grab her legs.

On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike with no more than a couple steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Artur galocha/THE WASHINGTON POST

Yurchenko double pike

Simone Biles became the first woman to compete a double-flipping Yurchenko last month, and this vault will be named for her once she successfully performs it at the Olympics.

First flip

Second flip

Biles said she chose to flip in a piked position, rather than a tuck, because it is easier for her to grab her legs.

On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike with no more than a couple steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Artur galocha/THE WASHINGTON POST

Yurchenko double pike

Simone Biles became the first woman to compete a double-flipping Yurchenko last month, and this vault will be named for her once she successfully performs it at the Olympics.

First flip

Second flip

Biles said she chose to flip in a piked position, rather than a tuck, because it is easier for her to grab her legs.

On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike with no more than a couple steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Artur galocha/THE WASHINGTON POST

Yurchenko double pike

Simone Biles became the first woman to compete a double-flipping Yurchenko last month, and this vault will be named for her once she successfully performs it at the Olympics.

First flip

Second flip

Biles said she chose to flip in a piked position, rather than a tuck, because it is easier for her to grab her legs.

On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike with no more than a couple steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Artur galocha/THE WASHINGTON POST

Yurchenko double pike

Simone Biles became the first woman to compete a double-flipping Yurchenko last month, and this vault will be named for her once she successfully performs it at the Olympics.

First flip

Second flip

Biles said she chose to flip in a piked position, rather than a tuck, because it is easier for her to grab her legs.

On nearly all of her attempts seen publicly, she has landed the double pike with no more than a couple steps — the byproduct of having too much power on a skill that already requires so much height.

Artur galocha/THE WASHINGTON POST

Biles performing this vault in competition, seemingly with ease, doesn’t change how remarkably difficult it is. Biles could remain an outlier. McMurtry’s club gym didn’t have a foam pit. She learned a Yurchenko at age 9 and later excelled. She imagined adding only extra twists — never a double-flipping Yurchenko. So now, she wonders whether the next wave of great vaulters will see this skill as a challenging but realistic option.

“I don’t think I thought of it,” McMurtry said. “I had a really good Yurchenko, but Simone opened that door, for sure — absolutely opened that door to women’s gymnastics.”

correction

An earlier version of this story said Amanars had a 6.5 difficulty value in 2016. That was their value in 2012. The story has been updated.