“So, we stacked the mats, we thought it's kind of a crazy idea because it seems like it was pretty dangerous doing it on that horse. “One time, he just came to the gym and said that we are going to do that vault,” Yurchenko said. She and other women training alongside her at Rostov-on-Don got to work one day at the behest of Rastorotsky, who also coached greats like Ludmilla Tourischeva and Natalia Shaposhnikova. “So, everybody tried to create something that they only can do.” “Our coach was such a great innovator,” Yurchenko says. The move was the brainchild of her coach, Vladislav Rastorotsky.

Natalia Yurchenko: Watching Simone Biles raise the level on vault brought tears of joy Creating 'the Yurchenko' “So, we just noticed right away how much it's going to be developed over the future and for the future.” “Overall, it was much easier than when we performed Tsuks before or front fronts,” explained Yurchenko. Her daring innovation approached the vault by doing a round off onto the springboard and then a back handspring on to the vaulting horse. The latter is named for the Japanese great, Tsukahara Mitsuo, who first did it. Prior to Yurchenko, vaulters came in to contact with the vault two ways: straight on or with a half turn. Biles made it viral in her competitive return on 22 May, performing a state of the art version ending with a double piked somersault. Yurchenko was part of that generation, and she originated an entry on the vault, now known by her name, that changed the sport. It all started first with Olga Korbut, then with Nadia Comaneci and then after 1980 Olympics in Moscow, somehow it was an all-new generation, who had come to the stage and were throwing all difficult tricks,” said 1983 world all-around champion Natalia Yurchenko in an exclusive interview with Olympic Channel at her gymnastics club – CITY Club Gymnastics Academy – in Chicago’s South Loop. “It was the 80s when gymnastics started changing dramatically. They also claimed titles in 1988 and, as the Unified Team, in 1992.Īnd even more like Biles, they pushed the sport ahead at a time that it was changing rapidly.

Like Biles, they dominated the sport, winning eight-straight Olympic team gold medals from 1952 to 1980. Before artistic gymnastics had Simone Biles, it had the Soviet women’s team.

Pysanka by Hanna Yurchenko