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Trampolining or trampoline gymnastics is a competitive Olympic Games in which athletes perform acrobatics while bouncing on a trampoline. In competition, these can include simple jumps in the straight, pike, tuck, or straddle position to more complex combinations of forward and/or backward and twists. Scoring is based on the difficulty and on the total seconds spent in the air. Points are deducted for bad form and horizontal displacement from the center of the bed.
Outside of the Olympics, competitions are referred to as gym sport, trampoline gymnastics, or gymnastics, which includes the events of trampoline, synchronised trampoline, double mini trampoline and tumbling.
In the United States, trampolining was quickly introduced into school physical education programs and was also used in private entertainment centers. Elsewhere in the world the sport was most strongly adopted in Europe and the former Soviet Union. Since trampolining became an Olympic Games sport in 2000, many more countries have started developing programs.
| Tucked | with knees clasped to the chest by hands |
| Piked | with hands touching your feet and both arms and legs straight |
| Straight | body in a straight position with legs together, toes pointed, and arms by the sides |
A fourth 'shape', known as 'puck' because it appears to be a hybrid of pike and tuck, is often used in multiple twisting somersaults—it is typically used in place of a 'tuck' and in the competition would normally be judged as an open tuck shape.
A straddle or straddled pike is a variant of a pike with arms and legs spread wide and is only recognized as a move as a shaped jump and not in any somersault moves.
Rotation is performed about the body's longitudinal and lateral axes, producing twists and somersaults respectively. Twists are done in multiples of a half and somersaults in multiples of a quarter. For example, a barani ball out move consists of a take-off from the back followed by a tucked 1¼ front somersault combined with a ½ twist, to land on feet. Rotation around the dorso-ventral axis is also possible (producing side-somersaults and "turntables"), but these are not generally considered to be valid moves within competitions and carry no 'tariff' for difficulty.
Trampoline skills can be written in FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique) shorthand. FIG shorthand consists of one digit signifying the number of quarter rotations, followed by digits representing the number of half twists in each somersault, and a symbol representing the position of the skill. "/" represents a straight position, "<" represents a pike position, and "ο" represents a tuck position. For example, 42/ is a back somersault with a full twist in the straight position, 800ο is a double back somersault with no twists in the tuck position, and 821/ is a double somersault that has a full twist in the first full somersault and a half twist in the second full somersault while remaining in a straight position.
Soon after the first World Championships, an inaugural meeting of prominent trampolinists was held in Frankfurt to explore the formation of an International Trampoline Federation. In 1965 in Twickenham, the Federation was formally recognised as the International Governing Body for the sport. In 1969, the first European Championship was held in Paris and Paul Luxon of London was the winner at the age of 18. The ladies winner was Ute Czech from Germany. From that time until 2010, European and World Championships have taken place in alternate years—the European in the odd and the World in the even. Now the World Championships are held annually.
In 1973, Ted Blake organised the first World Age Group Competition (WAG) in the newly opened Picketts Lock Sports Centre; these now run alongside the World Championships. Blake also used the first WAG as an opportunity to organise a World Trampoline Safety Conference which was held in the Bloomsbury Hotel, London, in order to codify safety concerns. There is also a World Cup circuit of international competitions which involves a number of competitions every year. There are also international matches between teams from several countries.
At first the Americans were successful at World Championship level, but soon European competitors began to dominate the sport and for a number of years, athletes from countries that made up the former Soviet Union have often dominated the sport. Germany and France have been the other strong nations in trampolining and the first four ranking places in World Trampolining used to go to USSR, France, Britain and Germany. In recent years, Canada has also produced Olympic medalists and World champions due in large part to contributions made to the sport by Dave Ross. Ross pioneered the sport in Canada almost 30 years ago and has consistently produced Olympic and World Cup athletes and champions. Since trampolining became an Olympic sport, China has also made a very successful effort to develop world-class trampoline gymnasts, their first major success was in the 2007 Men's World Championship and later in both Men's and Women's gold medals and a bronze in the 2008 Olympic Games held in Beijing. Since then, they have won both World Championships and several Olympic medals.
A double mini-trampoline competition consists of two types of pass. In the one, which is known as a mounter pass, the athlete performs one skill in the jump from the sloping end to the flat bed and a second skill as they dismount from the flat bed to the landing mat. In the second, which is known as a spotter pass, the athlete does a straight jump from the sloping end to the flat bed to gain height, then after landing on the flat, performs the first skill, then after landing on the flat a second time, performs a second skill as they dismount. These skills are similar to those performed on a regular trampoline except that there is forward movement along the trampoline.
form and difficulty are judged in a similar manner as for trampolining but there are additional deductions for failing to land cleanly (without stepping) or landing outside a designated area on the mat.
Tumbling is not an Olympic Games event but has been held as part of the European Games, as well as individual World and Continental Championships.
As part of the agreement to merge FIT with FIG, individual trampolining was accepted into the Summer Olympic Games for 2000 as an additional gymnastic sport.
The currently accepted basic format for individual trampoline competitions usually consists of two or three routines, one of which may involve a compulsory set of skills. The skills consist of various combinations of , shaped bounces, body landings and twists performed in various body positions such as the tuck, pike or straight position.
The routines are performed on a standard 14-foot-by-7-foot regulation-sized trampoline with a central marker. Each routine consists of the athlete performing ten different skills starting and finishing on the feet.
In senior level competitions, a "Time of Flight" (ToF) score was added to the overall score from 2010. This benefits athletes who can maintain greater height during their routines. "Time of Flight" is the time spent in the air from the moment the athlete leaves the mat until the time they make contact again and is measured with electronic timing equipment. The score given is the sum the time in seconds of all completed jumps. This is now mainly in all competitions, including Club, County and Regional, as it is a key factor in judging.
In 2017, the method of determining the horizontal displacement from the centre was changed, new markings were added to the bed and zones set up with deductions based on the distance from the centre of the trampoline bed. The score is determined by a deduction which is the sum of all the landing zone deductions subtracted from 10. The displacement is measured electronically where the equipment is available, or else by two judges observing the landing zones.
The total score is a combination of the degree of difficulty (DD) performed plus the total Time of Flight (ToF) minus standardized deductions for poor form and mistakes and the horizontal displacement.
Teenage trampoline athletes are at higher risk of injury with higher training loads.
Among Olympic athletes at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 games, the injury rate for trampoline gymnasts was about half that for artistic gymnasts.
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