Uneven Bars
The uneven bars made their first appearance at the 1934 World championship and officially became part of the Olympic games in 1952 (iSport). At this time, they were nearly the same as men’s parallel bars except for one was raised higher than the other. An athlete would be able to be in contact with both bars at the same time and frequently moved from one bar to the other which can be seen in the video below.
In the 70s, women’s and men’s equipment for bars began to be made separately. Men and women no longer competed using the same piece of apparatus set differently. The circumference and shape of the bars were changed as well as the method of adjusting the size; tension cables were added and rooted to the floor for increased stability. Also, the bars were no longer made purely of wood due to the more powerful skills being performed. Through the end of the 20th century, the bars drifted apart as gymnasts began to do more and complex release moves. Most of the bars skills competed before the 80s are now obsolete because of this (iSport). Today the bars remain far apart.
There are some requirements that the gymnast must fulfil in order to have a competitive routine. The routine must have a mount or way to get onto the bar. Typically, this is a kip from the ground onto the low bar or a kip off of a spring board onto a high bar. Other mounts exist but these are the two most common. Elementary skills such as casts (handstands on the bar) and hip circles are also necessary. Usually a gymnast does a kip cast to initiate a skill. A skill called a giant swing is required. A giant is swinging round the bar in a handstand position. It is completed with a tap swing in the middle to assist in getting over the top of the bar. A gymnast must move from low bar to high bar and vice versa. There are a few options of ways to do this. A gymnast may jump or hecht or shaposhnikova from low to high and from high to low they may pak salto, overshoot. There are other forms of release moves where a gymnast lets go and regrasps a single bar. Some of these are jaegers, giengers, deltchevs, and tkatchevs etc. Finally, a gymnast needs a way to exit from the bar. There are many variations on dismounting but the major kinds are flyaways, toe fronts, and front flyaways. Most people compete backwards flyaways. Some of these skills can be seen in the routine below consisting of a kip cast, jump to the high bar, kip cast, half pirouette, overshoot, kip cast, jump to the high bar, kip cast, giant, giant, double back.
There are some requirements that the gymnast must fulfil in order to have a competitive routine. The routine must have a mount or way to get onto the bar. Typically, this is a kip from the ground onto the low bar or a kip off of a spring board onto a high bar. Other mounts exist but these are the two most common. Elementary skills such as casts (handstands on the bar) and hip circles are also necessary. Usually a gymnast does a kip cast to initiate a skill. A skill called a giant swing is required. A giant is swinging round the bar in a handstand position. It is completed with a tap swing in the middle to assist in getting over the top of the bar. A gymnast must move from low bar to high bar and vice versa. There are a few options of ways to do this. A gymnast may jump or hecht or shaposhnikova from low to high and from high to low they may pak salto, overshoot. There are other forms of release moves where a gymnast lets go and regrasps a single bar. Some of these are jaegers, giengers, deltchevs, and tkatchevs etc. Finally, a gymnast needs a way to exit from the bar. There are many variations on dismounting but the major kinds are flyaways, toe fronts, and front flyaways. Most people compete backwards flyaways. Some of these skills can be seen in the routine below consisting of a kip cast, jump to the high bar, kip cast, half pirouette, overshoot, kip cast, jump to the high bar, kip cast, giant, giant, double back.
Uneven bars is a very challenging event. It is like none of the others in that it primarily is done using the hands and arms. Often bars is a weak point for many gymnasts. Also there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding attempting new skills. The margin of error is extremely small, especially for release moves. It takes a longer time working on new skills on bars to be able to do them consistently than any of the other events. Mental blocks are not as common on bars as they are on beam but they still occur frequently. Falling on bars has the potential to be very dangerous. The bars are 5.6 and 8.2 feet of the ground give or take a few inches. If one falls of the bar it will hurt. Common places people fall are in casts and dismounts. It is easy to cast too powerfully and go over the top as well as under- or over-rotate a dismount. Worse falls are typically from peeling off the bar due to lack of chalk or some other factor. Gymnasts wear leather strips on their hands called grips to help prevent this and reduce wear and tear, such as rips, on the hands, which are rather rough. Also falling on release moves can be rather dangerous because the person is virtually flying through the air at high speeds. Some of these falls can be seen in the video below.