09. Juli 2010  
Ottawa, Canada  
Artistic Gymnastics

FAHRIG as SUPER G - The gymnastics vocabulary is a word richer!

Matthias Fahrig (SV Halle)
: 12. German 'inventor' in the gymnastics dictionary;

In a meeting in Ottawa, Canada the Technical Committee of mens artistic gymnastics of the World Gymnastics Federation F.I.G. acknowledged the "new floor element" of the European Champion Matthias FAHRIG from Halle, and gave this element the highest possible degree of difficulty - "G" (Value: 0.7). Therewith the "Fahrig"-Salto in double twist followed by one and a half twist, which was displayed in tucked position for the first time last weekend at the Japan Cup in Tokyo,  was taked up in the "Code de Pointage" - the international assessment regulations of gymnasts.

Sven Tippelt at ´his' moy piked with straddle bkw. into the handstand

Last German gymnastics innovation 22 years ago
In 1988 at the Olympic Games in Seoul it was the gymnast Sven Tippelt from Leipzig (GDR) the last German, whose creative element was acknowledged as a new world gymnastics element and the "TIPPELT" on the pommel horse was taken up as a conventional expression in the gymnastics language, which in dry German is formulated like this: : "Straddle flare (Thomas) through the handstand, with swing into the Thomas").

Roland Brückner, Floor-World Champion 1979 and Olympic winner 1980

Germans yet again the "gymnastics examples"
Over two centuries the Germans followed gymnastics elements and the floor was definitely not a German prime apparatus in this time.

The only World Championship title was won in 1981 by the Berlin Olympic winner of Moscow (1980), Roland Brueckner; 1981 in Moscow;
the last Worlds medallist 1992 in Paris Maik Krahberg (Bronze; SV Halle) and since then Matthias Fahrig (also Halle) has been the only single German gymnast, who even reached a words final with this apparatus (6. in London 2009), and now, shortly after his victory - the win of his European floor title in Birmingham:
SUPER 'G'  in artistic gymnastics!
At the moment there are only 3 "G"-elements in floor gymnastics - the highest difficulty of all categories, and now German athletes have managed two of these (!):
* Matthias Fahrig, with the recently acknowledged creation double-twist, 1 1/2 twists, tucked ( >> "Fahrig-Salto"  Tokyo 2010  (youtube) and
* Marcel Nguyen, with his Tripple Tsukahara (double salto tucked with 3 twists)
... the third, "century "G" element" is the legendary tripple salto bkw. tucked by Valeri Ljukin  at the 1987 European Championship in Moscow....

German men's "gymastics patent"
Not that there weren´t many German gymnasts and trainers, which attempted new things, but not all creations were officially acknowledged and given a name - such as that of the inventor, in the gymnastics language.
To be exact there have been 11 German gymnasts until now, whose name-giving, have caused a "wow-reaction" especially in expert groups:

* On the floor ...
- the "FAHRIG"-Salto,  so now  Matthias Fahrig (SV Halle) as the number 12 German gymnast has been taken up into this illustrous circle, even if he will also show this element in October at the World Championships 2010 in Rotterdam...;

Michael Nikolay, World-Champion in 1981 in virtuose on the pommel-horse...

* On the pommel-horse:
-the "NIKOLAY"- spiral. h. direct "Stoeckli B" 3x on 1 pommel (WCh 1979 in Fort Worth/USA demonstrated by the later World Champion, Michael Nikolay (SC Dynamo Berlin);
-the "KROLL", flank fwd. to support between the pommels wendeswing bkw. with 270°, to side support fw. beside the pommels, demonstrated by the Sylvio Kroll, (GDR; SC Cottbus), World Championships 1985, Montreal;
- the "TIPPELT" - Thomas flare - handstand - back to Thomas flare, demonstrated by Sven Tippelt (GDR / SC DHfK Leipzig), 1988 in Seoul Olympic Games.
* On the rings
-the "KOESTE", - uprise bkw. and salto bkw. tucked, demonstrated by  Klaus Köste (GDR / SC DHfK Leipzig), at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich;
- the "FISCHER", double salto fw., tucked with 1 1/2 twists, demonstrated by Jens Fischer (GDR / SC Cottbus) at the so called  "Competions of Friendship", 1984, the "Olympic replacement Games" in the times of the Olympic boycot of the former socialist states in the Czech city of Olomouc;

Sylvio Kroll, World Champion 1987, vault - having missed the 1988 Olympic Gold medal with 0,025 points ...

Maik Belle (Cottbus) on the highbar : still today incredible difficulty, a tripple salto plus complete turn!!!
* see below

* On vault:
- the "KROLL", handspring, salto fw., tucked with 1 1/2 twists, demonstrated by the later vault World Champion ( '87), the Sylvio Kroll, (GDR; SC Cottbus), at 1985 Europeans in Oslo;

* On the parallel bars:
- the "BELLE", giant wheel bkw. and double salto bkw. onto the upper arms, demonstrated by Maik Belle (GDR / SC Cottbus) 1987 in Moscow, who won the European Bronze with this;
- the "TIPPELT", handstand through the "Moy" and moy piked with straddle into the handstand, invented by Sven Tippelt (GDR / SC DHfK Leipzig) at the 1987 Worlds in Rotterdam;

* On the high-bar:
- the "KOESTE", means Steinemann with tuck into the handstand, demonstrated by the 1970 Worlds Bronze medalllist on high bar in Ljubljana, Klaus Koeste (GDR / SC DHfK Leipzig);

Eberhard Gienger with his legendary Gienger-Salto

- the  "JÄGER"-Salto, swing backward and salto forward tucked or straddled in hang, first demonstrated by Bernd Jäger (GDR / ASK 'Vorwärts' Potsdam) at t

Matthias Fahrig, Marcel Nguyen: capable of 2 of the 3 SUPER 'G'-elements on the floor

- the "QUAST", flying giant swing backwards with jumped pirouette (1/1) into handstand phase, demonstrated by Ralf Quast (GDR / ASK Vorwärts Potsdam) at the 1987  
Matthias Fahrig has now signed himself into the "gymnastics inventor dictionary", the dynamic young man from Halle has now got written proof that he has what it takes to be something really big...
 ... let`s see what happens!

(C) GYMmedia INTERNATIONAL
      Eckhard Herholz


* ... see also > Matthias Fahrig's Salto World-Creation (Tokyo, July 2010)