Several suggested others as powerful or more powerful than Alicia Sacramone.
Most often mentioned, Yelena Produnova, in her prime. The argument being, can Alicia do this?
Click PLAY or watch the only gymnast to ever successfully land this vault on YouTube.
… This vault was listed by selecious as the most “difficult, forget the code” of all time. I’d agree.
Like just about everyone else, I love Yelena Produnova.
But I think she was more freaky good at forward somersaulting than “powerful”.
This montage by Lexness captures her unique style well. Watch her leg “power”. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Cool. Outrageous. Gorgeous.
I recall watching Charlie Tamayo doing Handspring Front Layout up on to a stack of mats. And thinking, Nobody in the history of gymnastics ever did that as “easily”.
I still believe Alicia could do Handspring front up on to a stack of mats more “easily” than Yelena. Or any other vaulter I can recall.
… We need sport scientist Jeni McNeal to do some research on this for us.
4 comments ↓
I agree that Alicia is very powerful. The difference between the two, however, to me, is that Prudonova did not do the “pike-fling-open” that Alicia has always done. When Prudonova hit the horse, her body was very close to straight, and then she “hip-released” into her flip. Alicia has always hit the table with a very pronounced hip angle, and then would throw her heels through her rotation.
This one factor, to me, indicates that Prudonova had more power than Alicia.
It would also be the reason that, in my opinion, Alicia could never do a hand front up to as high of a mat stack as Prudonova could, as that “fling” has to take away from potential height.
That vault was AMAZINGLY high. Old school vault, not to mention the board would be nothing like what we have now. Prudunova was fantastic.
I don’t remember Prudunova cowboying the double front like that video, only that it was insane.
It is very clear that Prudonova had immense natural power. You have to be more than ‘freaky good’ at flipping frontwards to do that kind of vault as well as she did.
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