by Caela Carter
ARABIAN: A tumbling move that starts as a back flip and finishes as a front flip
BALANCE BEAM: A piece of gymnastics apparatus and an event in which the gymnast performs tricks on a beam that is 4 feet high, 4 inches wide, and nearly 16.5 feet long
BARS: A term commonly used to refer to the uneven bars
BEAM: A term commonly used to refer to the balance beam
CLASSICS/US CLASSICS: An annual national gymnastics meet held each summer and regarded as the start of the serious gymnastics season
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY (DOD): A rating that reflects the difficulty of a gymnastics move. DODs are added up, then added to the execution score to determine a gymnast’s score on an event
DISMOUNT: Term used for the last element in any routine, used to get off the apparatus in beam and bars
DOUBLE TWISTING YURCHENKO (DTY): A gymnastics move on vault in which the gymnast performs a Yurchenko with two full twists
ELITE: The top level of gymnastics as determined by the FIG; gymnasts must be an elite in order to qualify for the national team
EVENT: Term used to refer to the four standard performances in women’s gymnastics: vault, bars, beam, and floor
EXECUTION SCORE: A score based on the quality of a routine regardless of the difficulty of tricks; execution scores all start at 10 and deductions are made based on mistakes or imperfections during a routine
FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique): The governing body that determines the rules and the code for international gymnastics, including the Olympics
FLOOR: A shortened term for the floor exercise
FLOOR EXERCISE: An event in women’s gymnastics in which athletes compete a routine made of tumbling and dance moves set to music over a 40-foot square spring floor
FULL TURN: A 360-degree turn performed on either floor or beam
GIANT: A move on bars that involves a 360-degree swing around a bar from handstand to handstand with the body in full extension
GRIPS: Equipment made of leather that gymnasts fasten around their hands and wrists to improve their handling of the uneven bars
HANDSPRING: A tumbling move on floor or beam in which the gymnast moves from both feet to both hands and back to both feet; it can be performed forward or backward
HIGH BAR: The top bar of the uneven bars
INTERNATIONAL GYMNAST/IG: The most popular magazine about national and international men’s and women’s gymnastics
JUNIOR OLYMPICS/JO: The program of gymnastics for those too young (or not yet skilled enough) to compete on the elite level
KIP: A basic gymnastics skill on bars in which the gymnast moves from a hanging position to a fully extended handstand
LAYOUT: A move on floor or beam in which the gymnast flips with her body held straight or arched, but not tucked
LEO: A shortened term for leotard
LEOTARD: A one-piece fitted garment made for competition in gymnastics
LOW BAR: The lower of the two uneven bars
MOUNT: The first skill used in any routine; in beam and bars this refers to the move used to get onto the apparatus
MUSTAFINA: A dismount on bars named after Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina in which the gymnast does a double back tuck off the high bar while also twisting her body 180 degrees
NATIONAL CHAMPION: The winner of the Nationals meet; regarded as the best American gymnast until the next Nationals meet, or the Olympics if it is an Olympic year
NATIONALS: An annual gymnastics meet among the best American gymnasts, held to crown a yearly national champion; many countries also host their own national championships
NATIONAL TEAM: A select group of elite gymnasts required to train together several times a year; all the international teams such as Worlds and Olympic teams are selected from this group
NCAA: National Collegiate Athletic Association, also used to refer to college athletics in general
OLYMPIAD: The period of four years between Olympic games
OLYMPIC ROTATION: The preferred and standard order for a gymnast to compete on the events; this order is always used unless there are multiple groups of gymnasts, in which case the order remains the same but may start on a different apparatus; the order is vault, bars, beam, floor
OLYMPIC SELECTION COMMITTEE: A small committee of people who are committed to gymnastics who work together to determine the makeup of the Olympic team, often including past Olympic athletes, past coaches, etc.
OLYMPIC TEAM COORDINATOR: The member of the Olympic Selection Committee who establishes the training and preparation required for all Olympic hopeful gymnasts, advises gymnasts and coaches, and makes many decisions about US Olympic gymnastics
PAK SALTO: A move on bars, named after North Korean gymnast Gyong Sil Pak, in which the gymnast releases the high bar, does a backward flip, and catches the low bar
PIKE: A body position used in moves on floor, beam, and bars in which the legs are kept straight and the body is bent at the hips, preferably in an angle over 90 degrees
PLATFORM: The raised surface upon which the apparatus is placed in big events
RELEASE MOVE: Refers to any move on bars in which the gymnast lets go of the bar and does a trick in the air before grasping the bar again
ROUNDOFF: A move on floor or beam that starts similar to a cartwheel, but both feet land on the floor at once; often used to begin a tumbling series
ROUTINE: A combination of skills and tricks that one gymnast performs in a certain order on one apparatus
RUNWAY: The line of mat that a gymnast runs down when approaching the vault
SENIOR: A gymnast who is over sixteen years old, or is fifteen but will turn sixteen within the calendar year, and is therefore eligible to compete in the Olympics and other international and national meets
SPECIALIST: A gymnast who competes in only certain events and does not do the all-around
SPLIT LEAP: A move on beam and floor in which a gymnast starts on one foot, completes a split in midair, and lands on the other foot; ideally the split will be more than 180 degrees to showcase flexibility
TUCK: A position used during flips in which the body is bent at the hips and knees or curled into a ball
TUMBLING PASS: A series of connected tumbling tricks that gets the gymnast from one side of the floor or beam to the other
UNEVEN BARS: An apparatus and event consisting of two fiberglass bars, one 148 centimeters high, the other 228 centimeters high
USAG: The governing body for US-specific gymnastics
VAULT: An apparatus consisting of a runway, springboard, and vaulting platform; an event in which a gymnast sprints down the runway, punches off the springboard, performs flips and tricks, and ends up on her feet on the other side of the vaulting table
WALKOVER: A move on floor and vault in which a gymnast moves from a standing position into a handstand and back to standing by “walking” on the air with her feet
WOLF JUMP: A jump performed on floor and beam in which a gymnast has one leg fully extended in front of her and one bent sharply at the knee with her body in a pike position
YURCHENKO: A move on vault, named for Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, in which the gymnast hits the springboard with her hands and performs a back-handspringlike movement over the vault, then twists before landing
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book taught me a whole new meaning of the word “revise,” and both the book and myself are so much better for it! An immense thank you to my editor, Leila Sales, for the brilliant insights, the endless patience, and the consistent belief that I could make this work. I am a better writer because of you. Thank you also to everyone at Viking, especially Janet Pascal, Tricia Callahan, everyone in publicity and marketing. And thank you to Nancy Brennan for the cover!
Kate McKean, thank you for believing in this project when it was just a tiny
idea and thank you for believing in it every step of the way! I’m blessed to have you as my agent.
This book had many early readers whose insights were priceless to making sure I had a story, and one with five distinct voices. Thank you to Jessica Verdi, Allary Montague, Corey Ann Haydu, Dhonielle Clayton, Mary G. Thompson, and Sona Charaipotra for your thoughts on my first pages and on early drafts. A special shout-out to Alyson Gerber and Amy Ewing for sticking with me through many revisions and for letting me lose my mind and then helping me find it again.
I’m also blessed to have many communities who support me. Thank you to The New School, The Lucky 13s, The Class of 2K13, and the Binders. Thank you to my friends in writing, in life, and in both: I count on you in so many ways.
Thank you to my family: Beth and Bill Carter, Dan Carter, each of the Larssons, and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Thank you to my Buddy.
And, always and forever, thank you to Greg.
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