The Kinematic Analysis of Kasamatus in Vault

Kinematic Comparisons of the Tsukahara Vault between a Top-level Athlete and Sublevel Collegiate Athletes

“…Lee et al (2005Lee et al ( , 2006 claimed that a longer post-flight time and a longer horizontal movement distance were required to increase the chance of obtaining a high score, supporting the results of the top-level athlete in the present study. At HTD, the top-level athlete was able to perform an effective blocking with the left arm due to the postures of elbow and shoulder joints, which enabled a take-off with the right elbow joint more extended at HTO than the collegiate athletes.…”

“…This caused a lower vertical position and a shorter horizontal displacement, which enabled a relatively lower angle of approach to the vault table. In contrast, the collegiate athletes approached Lee et al (2005) also reported that a high scored group showed a landing angle about 10° lower than a low scored group. Thus the results of the top-level athlete in the present study were supported by previous studies.…”

“…In a Kasamatsu motion study, Lee et al (2005) reported that the superior group tended to have a shorter average horse contact time. The short horse contact time is known to be a main factor in generating a greater impact force from the horse, which directly affects post-flight (Takei, , 2000, in case of equal changes in momentum.…”

“…Recently, in order to enhance their chances of winning medals, they have also often used the handspring type (Group III) preferred by western athletes. The Tsukahara vault is composed of board take-off, sideways hands touch down on the horse, and stretched take-off with a backward salto, during which a technical difficulty score depends on the number of twist rotations in the air (Lee, Back, Kim, & Kong, 2005). In contrast, the handspring technique is composed of motions with a forward approach and both hands touch-down on the horse simultaneously, which is beneficial in obtaining greater heights and also in generating sagittal rotation, enabling various techniques to be applied.…”

Kinematical Analysis of Somersault with Twist in Men's Vault: Focusing on the Lou Yun and Akopian Motions

“…Back et al (2005) generated the variables of linear and angular motions in the first and second flights, with 2 trials in same athlete, by performing a kinematical analysis of the Lopez motion. Lee, Park, and Lee (2006) analyzed the difference in linear motion, and each motion difference between the Akopian high-and low-score groups. The authors' argument is as follows:…”