Event
Balance beam
Skill type
Mount
Known as
Three flares
Three flairs
Homma flares
Named after
Leah Homma (CAN)
About
First, a note on spelling. The officially spelling of this skill is flair, but over my dead body. Flare is what you mean. Flaring the legs is what is happening here. The argument for the flair spelling is that the skill is so-called because it is a circle element done with “flair,” and I’ll be over in the corner vomiting. You just misspelled the word you meant.
Flare elements are quite rare in women’s gymnastics (because when would you have the opportunity and why?), and for many years this mount was the domain of Leah Homma until fellow Canadian Peng Peng Lee came along and repopularized it. Canadians, you know. For whatever reason, when you hear this skill mentioned, it’s typically not called simply the “Homma” but the “Homma flares” as though they are other Hommas from which it needs to be differentiated. There are not.
Also, it often sounded like commentators on UCLA meets were calling this skill the “Homo flares,” so I will officially and forever refer to it as “Homo flares.”
Value
D (2017-)
C (2006-2016)