Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Dance

Known as
Stag
Stag leap
Split stag

About
The stag position will be familiar to those who watched gymnastics for any period of time, particularly on floor in the years 2009-2012 when gymnasts were doing one-inch-off-the-ground “stags” out of every possible tumbling element for bonus. For whatever reason, performing a stag on beam has never really caught on despite ample need for A dance elements to fulfill requirements.

The 1996 compulsory beam routine did force gymnasts to do stags on beam—really more of a stag jump than a stag leap, but a stag jump isn’t in the code, so we’re just going to deal—but other than that it is very much the ugly duckling of the animal elements on beam.

Value
A