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The Incredible Physics of Simone Biles’ Yurchenko Double Pike
Calculating angular velocity and the moment of inertia isn’t quite as hard as competing in the 2024 summer Olympics gymnastics tournament—but it’s pretty darn tough.
Step forward Simone Biles, who hit a Yurchenko double pike—considered the “hardest vault in the world”—during the artistic gymnastics Women’s Team event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. It’s a big deal, because when a gymnast is in the air, she wants to have an angular velocity high enough that, by the time she returns to the ground, she has rotated so her feet are pointed toward it. If you want to complete a double flip, the tuck position is going to have the lowest moment of inertia and give you the greatest rotational speed.
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