Event
Balance beam
Skill type
Dismount
Known as
The Kim (cough cough he he he)
Front aerial to back tuck
About
This is one of my favorite things. Gather ’round.
This skill wasn’t even in the code of points until 2009 when Nellie Kim decided it need to be added it back. One of my favorite Nellie moves. This wasn’t an issue of an element going unnamed until Nellie scrawled her name next to it, like the double tuck on floor. It was fully gone from the code. And then she swooped in like, “Oh, this is a skill again and also it’s The Kim, and it’s an E value skill, byeeeeeee.”
The side aerial into back tuck is one of those multi-shape, multi-skill elements that ‘s super cool but has been weaned out of elite gymnastics in the last several decades as the emphasis has moved to single skills with a single definable shape. For the most part, those skills no longer appear as options in the chart. With this one exception. I can’t stay too mad because the skill is fascinating, but if someone else had done this, you know Nellie would have been like, “Actually, we’re going to consider that two separate skills, a side aerial and a back tuck, Nastia.”
And she gave it an E. Sheer poetry.
Value
E