A multiple-exposure image of a gymnast performing the vault at the
2012 Summer Olympics.
The handspring double salto forward tucked, known as a Produnova in
women's artistic gymnastics and a Roche in
men's artistic gymnastics,[1][2] is a
vault consisting of a front handspring onto the vaulting horse and two front somersaults in a tucked position off it.
Men's Artistic Gymnastics
The first person to complete the vault was Cuban gymnast
Jorge Roche in 1980.[1]
By 2010, male gymnasts had developed more difficult variations by performing it
piked or with twists.[4]
Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Under the 2017–2020
Code of Points (artistic gymnastics) for WAG, the vault had a D-score of 6.4,[5] and is considered one of the hardest vaults ever performed in women's
artistic gymnastics.[6] It is currently tied with the Biles vault as the vault with the second-highest D-score. It is named after
Yelena Produnova of
Russia, who was the first woman to complete it successfully in 1999.[7] Produnova's coach,
Leonid Arkayev, bet her that she could not perform the vault.[1] The D-score of the Produnova has been slowly reduced over the quads from 7.1 (2009–2012), to 7.0 (2013–2016), to 6.4 (2017–2020). In the 2022-2024 Code of Points, it has been reduced to a D-score of 6.0.[8]
The vault is dangerous because a gymnast could break her neck if she fell short of two rotations. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Uzbek gymnast
Oksana Chusovitina attempted the Produnova but fell.[9] The vault is termed the "vault of death" due to its high level of difficulty and likelihood of injury.[10][11][12] Asked why she did not perform the vault,
Simone Biles stated, "I’m not trying to die."[9]
Gymnasts who have successfully completed the Produnova