Lists of “banned gymnastics moves” usually lump very different things together. A few skills really are forbidden by today’s rules. Others were taken out of the rulebook years ago, so they no longer score anything. Many more were never banned at all: gymnasts simply stopped doing them.
The difference matters if you’re watching a meet or reading about gymnastics history. A skill that is “illegal” for a junior may be allowed for a senior, and a famous “vault of death” is still in the rulebook today.
This guide covers the international rules set by World Gymnastics (formerly FIG), which run every major international meet including the Olympics. For each skill it gives the status today and the reason.
At a Glance: Banned, Removed or Out of Fashion
| Skill | Event | Status under the 2025–2028 FIG Codes | Main reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salto roll-outs, including the Thomas salto | Floor | Prohibited for men and for junior women; no value for senior women | Safety |
| Korbut flip and Mukhina’s twisting version (standing on the high bar) | Uneven bars | Removed from the Code at the end of 1984; prohibited for juniors | Not recorded by FIG; FloGymnastics cites routine flow |
| Produnova (handspring double front) | Vault | Allowed for seniors, valued 6.00; prohibited for juniors | Rarely tried because of the risk |
| Belly beats | Uneven bars | Allowed, out of use | Bars are set wider apart |
| Quad series (four skills in a row) | Balance beam | Allowed, out of use | 1997 scoring changes |
| Silivaș mount | Balance beam | Allowed, but not listed in the Code, so no value | Risk outweighs the reward |
| Back-to-back tumbling | Floor | Allowed, rare; small deduction in some cases | Scoring and composition rules |
| Comăneci dismount | Uneven bars | Allowed, still valued C; out of use | Its value fell behind newer dismounts |
On this list, only the roll-out is explicitly forbidden for senior gymnasts, and only in the men’s rulebook. Junior women have the longest list of prohibited skills.
How a Skill Leaves Gymnastics
International gymnastics is judged by a rulebook called the Code of Points. There is one for women’s artistic gymnastics (WAG) and one for men’s (MAG), and both are rewritten for each four-year Olympic cycle. The current editions run from 2025 to 2028.
The Code lists every recognised skill in a table and gives each one a value. A skill’s difficulty value is what it adds to the routine’s difficulty score. That gives FIG three ways a skill can fade out:
- A rule forbids it. The Code says outright that the skill is not permitted. This is rare.
- It is removed from the tables. Nothing forbids it in words, but a skill that isn’t listed earns no difficulty value, so there’s no reason to risk it.
- It stops being worth the effort. The skill is still allowed, but changes to scoring or equipment mean gymnasts get more from other skills.
Safety is behind the clearest bans. The men’s Code, for example, says that for safety reasons no new elements finishing in a roll-out are allowed (MAG Code 2025–2028, Art. 10.2.2). The third route is usually about value and apparatus, not danger.
Skills Banned by a Current Rule
Salto Roll-Outs and the Thomas Salto (Floor)
A roll-out is a somersault that doesn’t finish on the feet. The gymnast keeps rotating and finishes in a forward roll on the floor. The best-known example is the Thomas salto, named after American gymnast Kurt Thomas: one and a half backward somersaults with one and a half twists, ending in a roll.
Today’s men’s Code says salto roll-outs are “not permitted for value” (MAG Code 2025–2028, Art. 10.2.2, p.26). FIG deleted the Thomas floor element and its name from the men’s Code on 31 December 2016 (FIG MAG Table of Named Elements). Women’s gymnastics had dropped roll-outs earlier (FloGymnastics). The senior women’s Code has no ban clause, but no roll-out salto appears in its floor table, so it earns nothing. For junior women, floor skills that land in a roll are expressly prohibited (WAG Code 2025–2028, Junior modifications, p.183).
The danger is simple to picture. If the rotation comes up short, the head and neck reach the floor first. Soviet world champion Elena Mukhina was paralysed in 1980 when she under-rotated the skill in training (International Gymnastics Hall of Fame). Our full guide to the Thomas salto and why it’s banned covers its history, Mukhina’s injury and the exact men’s and women’s rules.
Extra Limits for Junior Women
Junior women compete under the same Code with a short list of modifications, and several of them are outright prohibitions. Under the 2025–2028 junior rules, these are prohibited (WAG Code, p.183):
- on uneven bars, saltos and dismounts that take off from both feet (the standing position of the Korbut flip);
- on floor, acrobatic skills that take off sideways or land in a roll;
- on vault, sideways take-offs or landings, and double saltos;
- on beam, dance skills that land in a cross sit.
These limits apply to junior competitions only. Some of these skills, such as double-salto vaults, are allowed once a gymnast is a senior.
Skills Removed from the Code
The Korbut Flip and Mukhina’s Twisting Version (Uneven Bars)
Olga Korbut made the skill famous at the 1972 Munich Olympics. She stood on top of the high bar, jumped backward into a back flip and caught the same bar again. Elena Mukhina later added a full twist to it.
Both skills started from a standing position on the high bar, and both are gone. FIG’s Table of Named Elements shows the Korbut bars element, in the Code since 1975, deleted on 31 December 1984, along with Mukhina’s twisting version. From 1985 neither skill had any value.
The current senior women’s Code doesn’t contain a sentence banning standing on the bar. The skills are simply missing from its tables, which is why it’s more accurate to say they were removed than banned. Juniors are a different case: their rules expressly prohibit bar saltos that take off from two feet (p.183). FIG’s table records the deletion but not the reason. FloGymnastics points to the way standing on the bar broke up the flow of a routine (FloGymnastics).
The names live on elsewhere in the Code. “Korbut” is now a vault (3.60), and a different bars skill and a floor skill (a double back with a full twist) carry Mukhina’s name (WAG Code, pp.61, 106, 168). The full story of Korbut’s flip, its nicknames and her 1972 bars final is in our guide to the dead loop in gymnastics.
Still Allowed but Rarely Seen
The Produnova Vault
The Produnova, a front handspring onto the vault followed by a tucked double front somersault, is often called the “vault of death”. It is not banned. The 2025–2028 women’s Code lists it at 6.00 (WAG Code, p.64). That equals the Biles vault (p.70) and sits behind only the Yurchenko double pike at 6.40 (p.68).
What keeps it rare is the risk. When India’s Dipa Karmakar used it in the 2016 Olympic vault final, CBS Sports described it as “quite dangerous” and counted her as one of only five gymnasts ever to have landed it. She finished fourth, 0.15 off the bronze. Juniors can’t compete it at all, because their rules prohibit double saltos on vault (p.183). Our list of the hardest vaults in gymnastics puts it alongside today’s other top vaults.
Belly Beats (Uneven Bars)
In a belly beat, the gymnast swung down from the high bar and struck her hips against the low bar, using the rebound to set up the next skill. They were hugely popular in Nadia Comăneci’s era and faded when wider bar settings became the norm (FloGymnastics). No rule bans the move. The equipment changed, and it stopped being useful.
The Quad Series (Balance Beam)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, many gymnasts linked four skills in a row on beam. They stopped when the 1997 Code changed what counted for connection bonus (FloGymnastics). Nothing forbids a four-skill series today. The current Code’s 0.10 Series Bonus needs only three skills worth at least B + B + C (WAG Code, Sec 12.4, p.50).
The Silivaș Mount (Balance Beam)
Romania’s Daniela Silivaș, the 1988 Olympic beam champion, used a mount that went up into a straddled shoulder stand on the beam and then turned down into a chest stand. It isn’t banned, but the current women’s Code doesn’t list it, so today it would earn no difficulty value (WAG Code 2025–2028). It faded because, as FloGymnastics puts it, many gymnasts don’t want to risk falling in the very first skill when the reward isn’t high enough (FloGymnastics).
Back-to-Back Tumbling (Floor)
Back-to-back tumbling means tumbling from one corner of the floor to the other and straight back again. Silivaș, Oksana Omelianchik and Dominique Dawes all performed it (FloGymnastics). It is still legal, but the modern Code doesn’t reward it. A second tumbling line along the same diagonal with no choreography in between costs 0.10 (WAG Help Desk, 2nd edition, April 2026, p.95). FloGymnastics notes that the focus has moved to harder skills, connections and clean landings.
The Comăneci Dismount (Uneven Bars)
Nadia Comăneci competed a bars dismount at the 1976 Olympics that started like a toe-on front dismount but added a half twist into a back somersault. In the 1970s it counted as a difficult dismount. Its value fell as harder dismounts arrived. The 2025–2028 Code still lists it, but only as a C (WAG Code, p.101), and gymnasts moved on to skills that score more (FloGymnastics). It was never banned.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Produnova vault banned?
No. It is in the 2025–2028 women’s Code at 6.00. Senior gymnasts can compete it; juniors can’t, because their rules prohibit double saltos on vault.
Why was the dead loop banned?
The dead loop, or Korbut flip, started with the gymnast standing on the high bar. FIG removed it from the Code at the end of 1984, so it has earned no value since 1985. FIG didn’t record why; FloGymnastics says standing on the bar broke up the flow of a routine. Junior rules now expressly prohibit saltos from a two-foot take-off on bars.
Are roll-outs illegal in gymnastics?
For men, yes: the men’s Code says salto roll-outs are not permitted for value. Junior women are prohibited from floor skills that land in a roll. For senior women there is no ban clause, but no roll-out salto is listed, so it would earn nothing.
Can juniors do every skill seniors can?
No. Junior women have extra prohibitions, including double saltos on vault, two-foot take-off saltos on bars and floor skills that land in a roll.
Do these rules apply to USA Gymnastics or college meets?
This page covers the international FIG Codes. USA Gymnastics and NCAA programs have their own rulebooks, so check those for domestic levels.
The Short Version
Very few gymnastics moves are actually banned. Under the 2025–2028 international rules, salto roll-outs like the Thomas salto are the clear case for men, and junior women have a short list of prohibited skills. The famous standing-on-the-bar skills were removed from the women’s Code at the end of 1984 rather than banned in words. Everything else on the usual “banned” lists, from belly beats to the quad series, is still legal. Equipment, scoring and fashion moved on, and the Produnova is still in the rulebook.