BEAM

The beam is a wood line covered by leather or deer.

The beam is:

High: 120cm
Longer: 5 meters
Width: 10cm
The high depends of the gymnast ages, if it is too high they can’t go on and it is too high for their mount and dismount, it can quickly be dangerous.

Gymnast are barefoot on the beam or the can use gymnast slipper, it allows the gymnast to not slid on the beam. 

Before training on the big beam, gymnast can try on a little beam which near the floor. It is easier for them because the beam required a lot of balance and they cannot do everything directly on the big one.

The beam is an apparatus of elegance, flexibility and balance it is why there is a high risk of fall.The routine is a mix of artistry, acrobatic elements, balances, leaps, jumps and turns. Gymnast has to combine everything to make a full movement and they have to use the whole beam. 

They have to start by a mount and finish with a dismount. They can use a springboard for the mount to jump on the beam.
In official competition the movement has to last maximum one minute and thirty seconds. If the gymnast fall on the floor she has ten seconds to go back on the beam and she loose some point on her final mark.

Gymnast can do a lot of staff on the beam, some of them are the same than the floor but it is more difficult because they have to do it only on ten centimeters.

Some example of element on the beam: handstand, straddle, flyspring, back flip, pirouette, spin, hecht, back walkover, back toss, front walkover, cartwheel, back salto, forward salto, aerial walkover, Arabian salto, inward turn, outward turn…
They can do some jump too as: picked, wolf jump, stride leap…

 Shawn Johnson - 2011