The International Sport of Trampolining

Since 2000 Trampoline has been an Olympic sport. Where did the sport of trampolining start? It can be traced back to Du Trampolin who first experimented with propulsion and landing by using a circus trampoline and then in early 1930's George Nissen designed a trampoline in his garage to aid in his diving and tumbling activities. He then started to entertain audiences with his trampoline demonstrations. During World War 2, U.S. Naval pilots would train using trampolines and after the war, Space Flight programmes used trampolines in training both American and Soviet Astronauts to simulate body positions in flight. Trampolining has been recognized for it's strength training.

In the U.S.A. and then in Europe; schools and colleges began holding competitions for trampolining. In 1964 the first World Championship for Trampoline was held in London. In 1958 England held the first televised National Trampoline Championship. In the beginning the U.S.A. dominated the World Championships but then lawsuits made it impossible for educational institutions to continue the high level of performance training necessary and the Americans loss their dominance.

The official definition of trampolining is: a competitive sport where gymnasts perform acrobatics on a trampoline. The acrobatics may include doing jumps in various positions including pike, straddle, and tuck or a combination of forward and backward somersaults and twists. There are two types of competitive rebound sports: synchronized trampoline and double mini-trampoline.

In competitions routines consist of 10 different contacts with the trampoline bed and the performer varies the twists, turns, and shapes of his/her body. The take-off and landing may be in one of these four positions: back front, feet or seat. The beginning of the routine must always begin on the feet.

The Competitions:

There is the Individual trampoline competitions in which there are 3 routines, one of which is a compulsory skill set

The Synchronized trampoline - where two athletics perform the same routine involving ten skills at the same time on side-by-side trampolines.

The Double mini-trampoline has a sloped end, flat bed trampoline (smaller than regulation competition). The gymnasts run up, jump on the sloping end and then jump on the flat part with skills being performed during the jumps and before dismounting.

As of 1 January 1999, trampoline became a discipline of gymnastics at the Olympic Games.
Trampoline gymnastics debuted at the Sydney 2000 Games featuring both men's and women's individual events. The Russian Federation took home two gold medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as Alexander Moskalenko and Irina Karavaeva were crowned with gold medals