Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Dance

Value
E

Known as
Switch ring (leap)
Change-leg ring leap

About
You can do it, but it better be right. The switch ring is an irresistible element for many of the top beam workers in the world because of its high E (0.5) value—mama want the precious—and because it’s probably already part of your passage of dance on floor, so just copy paste. But it’s also a quagmire. Only a handful of gymnasts who perform the skill show anything verging on an actual ring position. Most opt for a drunken U or a switch-arthritic-snake.

The switch ring has been one of the more heavily scrutinized elements on beam in terms of awarding credit for the element or downgrading it to something else. A lack of correct position—i.e, the back foot does not reach the crown of the head at the apex of the leap—will result in a downgrade to a switch leap.

The switch leap is a C (0.3) element, so that downgrade means a loss of two tenths, but is sometimes also the least of your concerns. If you’re doing a switch ring on beam, you probably also have a switch leap planned for elsewhere in the routine. If the switch ring is downgraded to a switch leap, then that subsequent switch leap becomes a repeated element for no credit. And if that repeated switch leap was intended to fulfill your dance connection, then you’re out another 0.5. And if the same thing happens to a split ring and a split leap, well…it’s a snowball effect. Or as it became known in 2019, a Kara Eaker effect.