Event
Balance beam
Skill type
Dance
Value
C
(upgraded from B to C in 2017)
Known as
Straddle 1/2
Straddle jump 1/2
Straddle pike 1/2
Side split 1/2
Named after
Jaime Hill (CAN) – 1994
Amanda Borden (USA) – 1994
(name attribution removed in 2006)
About
The straddle jump 1/2 on beam is a surprisingly recent (relatively) addition to the table of elements that did not even appear in the 1993 code.
In 1994, Canada’s Jaime Hill added the straddle jump 1/2 from cross position, while the USA’s Amanda Borden got the straddle jump 1/2 and side split 1/2 (the two techniques are no longer differentiated) from side position. In the 2001 code update, those skills were all combined into the same skill box, attributed to both Hill and Borden, but in the 2006 update, all names were removed.
The Borden—doing the straddle jump 1/2 from side position—was very popular during the Tokyo Olympic cycle, until the women’s technical committee said that performing it as a 1/4 turn, straddle, 1/4 turn (as seen above) is not permitted in FIG gymnastics. So everyone stopped doing it.