title: The influence of touchdown conditions and contact phase technique on post-flight height in the straight handspring somersault vault.
abstract: In vaulting the gymnast must generate sufficient linear and angular momentum during the approach and table contact in order to complete the rotational requirements in the post-flight phase. This study investigated the effects of touchdown conditions and contact technique on peak post-flight height of a straight handspring somersault vault. A planar seven-segment torque-driven computer simulation model of the contact phase in vaulting was evaluated by varying joint torque activation time histories to match three performances of a straight handspring somersault vault by an elite gymnast. The closest matching simulation was used as a starting point to optimise peak post-flight height of the mass centre for a straight handspring somersault. It was found that optimising either the touchdown conditions or the contact technique increased post-flight height by 0.1m whereas optimising both together increased post-flight height by 0.4m above that of a simulation matching the recorded performance. Thus touchdown technique and contact technique make similar contributions to post-flight height in the straight handspring somersault vault. Increasing touchdown velocity and angular momentum lead to additional post-flight height although there was a critical value of vertical touchdown velocity beyond which post-flight height decreased.
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK. Electronic address: M.R.Yeadon@lboro.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Maurice R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Yeadon
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK.
authors.forename: Monique I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hiley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006173:Gymnastics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019415:Torque; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Computer simulation; Gymnastics; Optimisation; Technique; Torque; Vaulting