Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Acrobatic

Known as
Aerial round-off
Free round-off
Free round-off tucked
Barani**

**The term barani is among the words gymnastics has inherited from ye olde tyme acrobatics and is a catchall used to refer to a front salto with a half twist. It is a bastardization of the name Alfonso Baroni, a 19th-century Italian acrobat. I would say an aerial round-off should not be classified as a Barani, but for the sake of ease, it often is referred to as one because there’s a forward takeoff and a backward landing and a 1/2 twist in there.

About
Now. Now now now. Most of the controversies I’ll talk about in these about sections regard skill-naming nonsense—as is my jam—but the controversy over this skill (at least in the tucked version) regards actual credit and recognition of the element.

Through 2016, there was some uncertainty as to how this skill should be evaluated, particularly with reference to Simone’s famous That Damn Barani. Was it a front salto with a 1/2 twist (F value skill), or was it an aerial round-off in tucked position (E value skill)? I’m of the aerial round-off camp.

In 2017, the controversy was somewhat quelled by the elimination of the box for the “front salto with 1/2 twist” entirely (sorry Grigoras). In order to get F credit, one must now perform a jump forward with a 1/2 twist into a back salto, with the initiation of the salto coming after the completion of the half twist. And ain’t nobody got time for that. Otherwise, it’s an E.

Value
E