Event
Balance beam

Skill type
Mount

Value
A

Known as
Thief vault
Side vault over beam

About
The thief vault is one of the better names for any skill in gymnastics, so if you found your way here because you saw the name “thief vault” and thought, “Oh huh,” you are now seen and known. It’s named after that thing where you’re a jewel thief and you just broke into a bank vault and now Cheryl Hamilton is judging your toe point. You know that thing.

The thief vault is a very old-fashioned element but did also have a later moment in the sun when it was selected as the mount for the 1996 compulsory beam routine.

A scissor leap over the beam was the compulsory mount 20 years earlier in 1976 and is considered the same skill for the purpose of the code of points, presumably because it also involves the legs alternating over the beam with you sitting there like heyyyyy.

Strangely, it had to be submitted to the code of points by Francesca Deagostini at the world championship in 2013, even though, once again…1976.