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Mitsuo Tsukahara
The Tsukahara vault, a round-off or quarter turn on to the horse followed by a back salto off, was first shown by the Japanese gymnast in the early 1970s and became one of the most widely used vault families in both men's and women's gymnastics. He also won Olympic high bar gold in 1972 and 1976 and was part of Japan's long run of Olympic team titles. Few skills have been built upon so many times.
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Olga Korbut
Born
At the 1972 Munich Olympics Korbut showed the world the Korbut flip, a standing back salto on the high bar of the uneven bars, and a back salto on the balance beam that few women had attempted in competition. She won three golds and changed women's gymnastics from a graceful exhibition into an acrobatic sport. The bars skill was later banned because rules stopped gymnasts standing on the bar, which makes it a rare named skill no one can now perform.
More about Olga Korbut3
Nadia Comăneci
Comăneci is remembered for the first perfect 10 at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, a score the scoreboard could only display as 1.00, but her lasting technical legacy is on the uneven bars. The Comăneci salto, a straddled front salto from the high bar to catch it again, and her dismount set new standards for release and flight on the apparatus. Her five Olympic golds made precision and difficulty the twin goals for every gymnast who followed.
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Kurt Thomas (gymnast)
Born
The Thomas flair, a circling of the legs in a wide straddle supported on the hands, began on the pommel horse and spread to men's floor routines, where it is still a staple; breakdancers later borrowed it too. Thomas turned it from a novelty into a standard element, and in 1978 he became the first American man to win a world title, on floor. The US boycott kept him from the 1980 Olympics, but his skill is performed in gyms everywhere.
More about Kurt Thomas (gymnast)5
Elena Mukhina
Born
The 1978 world all-around champion introduced the Mukhina, a release on the uneven bars, and tumbled a full-twisting double back on floor years ahead of most rivals. In 1980, practising the Thomas salto on floor before the Moscow Olympics, she crashed and was left quadriplegic. Her injury remains the starkest warning in the sport about the pressure to add difficulty without proper safety, and it changed how the risks of new skills are discussed.
More about Elena Mukhina6
Natalia Yurchenko
Born
Yurchenko's vault entry, a round-off on to the springboard and a back handspring on to the vault, was first performed by her in 1982 and transformed women's vaulting. Almost every high-difficulty vault since, including the Amanar and the Biles, starts from it. Its danger also led to the introduction of the safety collar around the board and, later, the vaulting table. Her own world all-around title in 1983 is almost a footnote to her vault's influence.
More about Natalia Yurchenko7
Valeri Liukin
Born
Liukin was the first gymnast to land a triple back salto on floor in competition, in 1987, a skill that took men's tumbling into new territory, and his high bar release work was just as ambitious. He won Olympic team and high bar gold at Seoul 1988. As coach of his daughter Nastia, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion, he passed that technical ambition on to women's bars and beam, where she too has skills named after her.
More about Valeri Liukin8
Svetlana Khorkina
Born
Khorkina has more skills named after her on the uneven bars than almost anyone, mostly releases and transitions that suited her unusually tall frame. Rather than adapt to a sport designed for smaller gymnasts, she used her long lines to invent elements others had not considered. She won Olympic bars gold in 1996 and 2000 and a string of world titles, and her influence on bars composition lasted well beyond her career.
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Lilia Podkopayeva
Born
Podkopayeva won the Atlanta 1996 all-around and floor titles, and her floor routine included the Podkopayeva, a double front salto with a half twist, which remains one of the hardest tumbles a woman has competed. Front-rotating double saltos with a twist land blind, so the skill demanded exceptional air awareness. Few women attempted it for years afterwards, which shows how far ahead of the field her tumbling was.
More about Lilia Podkopayeva10
Simona Amânar
Born
The Amanar, a Yurchenko entry with two and a half twists, takes its name from the Romanian who first performed it at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. For more than a decade it was the vault that decided women's all-around and team titles, performed by McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles and many others. Amânar's case is a good example of naming versus popularisation: she introduced it, but it was later generations who made it the standard high-value vault.
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Yelena Produnova
Born
The Produnova, a front handspring on to the vault followed by a tucked double front salto, is named after the Russian who first competed it in 1999. Its blind landing makes it one of the most dangerous vaults in the women's code, and for years almost no one copied it. It became famous again through others, notably India's Dipa Karmakar at Rio 2016, which makes it a clear case of a skill whose innovator and popularisers were different people.
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Marian Drăgulescu
Born
The Drăgulescu is a handspring double front salto with a half twist, one of the highest-valued vaults in men's gymnastics for years. The Romanian built a career around it, winning world vault titles across more than a decade, and his floor work was just as powerful. His vault became a benchmark that later specialists, Ri Se-gwang and others, measured their own innovations against.
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Cheng Fei
The Cheng, a round-off with a half turn on to the table and a layout salto with one and a half twists off, was introduced by the Chinese gymnast in the mid-2000s, when she won three straight world vault titles. Two decades later it is one of the most valuable vaults in the women's code, made famous again by Rebeca Andrade and Simone Biles. Cheng's innovation shows how a skill can wait years for the athletes who make it decisive.
More about Cheng Fei14
Kenzō Shirai
Born
Nicknamed the "Twist Prince", Shirai has several skills named after him on floor and vault, including the quadruple twist on floor, which he first landed in competition as a 17-year-old at the 2013 world championships. His twisting ability, built on extraordinary air sense developed on the trampoline as a child, redefined how many rotations judges and rivals thought possible, and he won three world floor titles. Few gymnasts have added so many skills to the code so young.
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Ri Se-gwang
Born
The North Korean specialist has two vaults named after him, both built on a double back salto with a full twist from different entries, among the highest-valued in the men's code. They won him world vault titles and Olympic gold at Rio 2016. Vault specialists rarely shape a whole event the way all-rounders can, but Ri's pair of skills set the difficulty that every men's vault final of the following decade had to answer.
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Simone Biles
Born
Biles has skills named after her on vault, beam and floor, including the triple-twisting double back on floor and the Yurchenko double pike vault, first competed in 2023, which had long been considered too dangerous for women. Her skills were so far beyond the field that judges assigned some lower values than expected, a sign of how the code struggles to price true innovation. With 11 Olympic medals, including three golds in Paris, she is the most decorated gymnast in history.
More about Simone Biles17
Nina Derwael
Born
Derwael made Belgium a power on the uneven bars, winning world titles in 2018 and 2019 and Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020. The Derwael-Fenton, a transition skill she shares with Britain's Georgia-Mae Fenton because both performed it at the same 2017 world championships, shows how naming works when two gymnasts debut a skill together. Her bars routines combined difficulty with long, clean lines that set the standard for that era.
More about Nina Derwael18
Kaylia Nemour
Born
Nemour won the uneven bars at the Paris 2024 Olympics for Algeria, the first gymnastics medal of any colour for an African nation. Her routine carried the highest difficulty in the field, built on intricate transitions and pirouettes, including a skill named after her. Trained in France, she switched to represent Algeria after a dispute with the French federation, and her bars set is now the one rivals have to chase.
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