Sunisa Lee, the defending Olympic all-around gold medalist and uneven bars bronze medalist, might try a brand new ability on the 2024 Paris Games.
The new ingredient in her uneven bars routine is a launch transfer by which a gymnast does a entrance flip and a full twist within the format place. Lee is searching for to be the primary lady ever to full this transfer in worldwide competitors.
If she is ready to do it on the Games, the ability — generally often known as a full-twisting Jaeger — can be christened “The Lee,” the primary ability to be named after her within the sport’s Code of Points. A handful of abilities have a tendency to be named every year, however solely a really small variety of gymnasts will ever earn the excellence of a namesake.
“The Lee” can be probably the most tough parts in ladies’s uneven bars. Let’s take a better have a look at how she performs the transfer.
Each ability within the uneven bars occasion has a letter worth indicating issue, beginning with A and going via G, although Lee’s new ability has the potential to grow to be an H.
Jaegers, named for Bernd Jäger, refer to a household of strikes that include a 360-degree swing with a straight physique on the excessive bar and a launch right into a entrance flip earlier than catching the excessive bar once more. They will be straddled (D), piked (D) or laid out (F).
The format Jaeger is known as a Cappuccitti (named for Stephanie Cappuccitti) and is never tried in competitors due to the problem of catching the bar. Lee’s transfer additional will increase the problem by including a full twist.
Note: The Cappuccitti was carried out by Luo Rui. The full-twisting Jaeger was carried out by Sunisa Lee.
Imagery by International Gymnastics Federation (Rui); The New York Times (Lee)
What makes Lee’s transfer significantly putting is that she will not be making a variation on a unique launch ability referred to as a Tkatchev, the route adopted by most uneven bars innovators in recent times.
In the original version — named for the Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Tkatchev — the gymnast swings across the excessive bar with a straight physique, releases it close to the apex of the swing, flies backward over the bar with legs straddled, and rotates the higher physique ahead to catch the bar once more.
Note: Performed by Gabby Douglas.
U.S.A. Gymnastics
The swing will be carried out with 5 physique positions, the flight will be carried out with three physique positions, and it is usually attainable to do a half-twist within the air. This means there are no less than 30 permutations of the identical root ability.
Six new Tkatchev variants have been named within the final 4 years alone.
While there are nonetheless some up for grabs, Lee selected to go a unique route. It has been 18 years since anybody innovated on the Jaeger base. The Chinese gymnast Li Ya was the final, introducing a Jaeger with a half twist in 2006.
In January, Lee posted videos on Instagram exhibiting her doing the brand new ability throughout a coaching session. It was an indication that she was getting again in kind after going through critical well being points for a lot of final 12 months.
Lee was recognized with an incurable kidney illness, which brought about extreme swelling in her face, arms and legs, making it unimaginable to compete.
On her return to elite competitors, she tried the brand new ability on the Winter Cup in February however missed the ingredient throughout her bars routine and fell.
Because of how tough and dangerous the ability is, it’s not sure whether or not Lee will try it with a medal on the road. But the Olympics in Paris will provide an opportunity to have the transfer named after her and to depart an indelible mark on the game.