Tsukahara (vault) explained

The Tsukahara can refer to a specific vault and a family of vaults in artistic gymnastics. The first Tsukahara vault was performed by (and named after) Mitsuo Tsukahara in 1972.

A Tsukahara vault consists of a half turn off the springboard onto the vault table, then a push backwards, usually into a back salto or layout.^[1]

In Japanese, this technique is known as a "Moonsault".^[2]

Variations

Any vault that has a handspring with 1/4 - 1/2 turn onto the vault table into a salto backwards is classified as a Tsukahara vault. Some variations on the Tsukahara vaults include:

• Kim - Tsukahara tucked or stretched with full twist (360°) off
• Zamolodchikova - Tsukahara stretched with a 2/1 turn (720°) off
• Phelps - a half turn onto the vault table, followed by a half turn off and into a front layout.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Vault Skills Terminology. 2008-02-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20080818173108/http://www.usgyms.net/vault_skills.htm. 2008-08-18.
2. Sports Zenshū 3: Kikai Undō, coauthored by Masao Takemoto and Kazuo Abe, published in 1975 by Poplar Publishing.