Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Dance

Value
D

Known as
Yang Bo
A freakin’ Yang Bo

Named after
Yang Bo (CHN) – 1989

About
The Yang Bo is one of the rare elements in gymnastics that is purely eponymous. You will never hear it described as anything other than Yang Bo. Yang Bo got it named at her debut world championship in 1989, when she was about to become the first Chinese gymnast to win a world beam title until she went on an impromptu mining expedition on dismount. We’re not over it.

The Yang Bo is also an endangered species in modern beam routines due to its…well…everything about it. I mean, look at it. Unlike its closely related (and equally valued) cousin the split ring jump, the Yang Bo requires oversplit with both legs along with head release, precluding all but the most flexible gymnasts from even imagining attempting it.

All for a D (0.4) value. Hence the endangered species part.

The Yang Bo from side position remains credited to Elvire Teza in the named skill section of the code of points, but it was removed from the code as an independent skill in 2017. Jumps from side position instead of cross position on beam receive an extra tenth in difficulty but are no longer listed as separate skills.