Gabby Douglas- 2012 Olympic All Around Champion
The uneven bars, also known as the assymetric bars, originally consisted of mens parallel bars set at different heights. This meant that the two bars were very close together.
Routines of the early 1950's were mainly made up of moves that involved swinging around each of the bars, and moving from one bar to another.
In the late 1950's, the design of the bars was changed, moving them further apart. Many of the moves popular before then, such as beats (bouncing the body off the low bar while hanging from the high bar), and wraps (wrapping the body around the low bar while hanging from the high bar) , were no longer possible.
Release moves and dismounts were introduced, and the difficulty was raised. In 1972 Olga Korbut pioneered the Korbut flip, the first high bar release move. Nadia Comaneci continued the trend with her original Comaneci salto at the 1976 Olympics and advanced handstand elements four years later. The giant swing, was also adopted into the Code of Points, and quickly became a basic uneven bars skill.
Routines.
Routines start very simply, and the easiest bars routines are performed on a single high bar, and involved swinging back and forth. Routines develop into very complex performances, and include release moves from one bar to another, and dismounts of twisting somersaults.
International level routines must include:
- Flight element from high bar to low bar and vice versa
- Flight element on the same bar
- At least two different grips, and a close bar circle element
- Non flight with a turn on the bar, for example turning handstands
- Dismount
