Dangerous gymnastics move only performed once 50 years ago has been banned ever since

An incredibly dangerous gymnastics routine was so risky that it was only performed once before getting banned for the last 50 years. Check it out below:

This dangerous move is known as the 'dead loop', and with a name like that you can probably guess why it's not something people are allowed to do these days.

The move itself involves an athlete standing on the higher bar, doing a backflip and then grabbing onto the bar again. Failure would mean falling a significant height or smacking into the bar.

Performed at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, for the first and only time in 1972 by Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut, it has since been banned for the last 50 years.

Incredibly, the amazing and dangerously risky routine didn't even win her the gold medal as she was pipped to first place by East Germany's Karin Janz.

As for why it's been banned for 50 years, as you can see in the video the dead loop is an incredibly tricky gymnastics routine.

Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo

The move has also been named the 'Korbut flip' in honour of its most famous performer, but standing on the bars these days will get you disqualified.

If even one thing in the move goes wrong you're likely to smash your head on one of the bars or cause some other sort of serious injury to yourself from failing to grab the bar after the backflip.

The level of risk for the dangerous routine was deemed to be just too high for anyone else to try it, making the 1972 Olympics the first and only recorded time a dead loop was performed in public.

Not only would it be tricky to pull off for an experienced gymnast, spare a thought for the poor souls who would be trying it out for the first time in an attempt to

Then again, the rest of Korbut's routine looks pretty damn dangerous as she throws herself between the bars with incredible dexterity where one wrong move could spell disaster.

The way gymnastics are done at the Olympics has changed drastically throughout the decades.

50 years ago Korbut was allowed to perform the dead loop, although her impressive performance might have contributed towards getting it banned.

20 years before that and gymnastics at the Olympics was a very different event that's pretty much unrecognisable to what we see today.

Science History Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Back then, people performed slow and controlled movements which look nowhere near as dramatic as modern gymnasts throwing themselves into flips, spins and all manner of moves.

One of the big changes is that back when they were launched the Olympic Games (our ones, not the Ancient Greek ones) were meant to be for amateurs, so it wasn't the sole domain of highly trained professionals performing intricate and risky routines.

There's also the huge developments in sporting equipment over the decades, if modern gymnasts tried to train and perform in the same conditions as those from several decades ago it wouldn't be long before they'd all end up in hospital.

Topics: Sport, Olympics, Weird

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker