The Thomas salto is a floor exercise skill named after American gymnast Kurt Thomas. The gymnast does one and a half backward somersaults with one and a half twists and, instead of landing on the feet, finishes in a forward roll.
You won’t see it at a modern meet. World Gymnastics (formerly FIG), which writes the international rules, removed the Thomas salto from the men’s rulebook at the end of 2016, and the men’s rules now say saltos that end in a roll-out are not permitted. Junior women are prohibited from roll-out landings too. Senior women’s rules have no ban clause, but the skill isn’t in their Code, so it would earn nothing.
The skill is remembered above all for one accident. In July 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics, Soviet world champion Elena Mukhina was paralysed when she under-rotated a Thomas salto in training.
The Thomas Salto at a Glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Event | Floor exercise |
| What it is | 1½ backward somersaults with 1½ twists, finishing in a forward roll |
| Named after | Kurt Thomas (USA), 1978 world floor champion |
| In the men’s Code | Listed from 1982, named after Thomas in 1985, deleted 31 Dec 2016 |
| Men today (2025–2028) | Salto roll-outs not permitted for value |
| Women today (2025–2028) | Seniors: not in the Code, so no value. Juniors: landings in a roll prohibited |
The Code dates come from FIG’s MAG Table of Named Elements. The current rules, from the MAG Code 2025–2028 and the WAG Code 2025–2028, are explained further down.
What the Thomas Salto Is, and Why It Was So Risky
Most floor somersaults finish on the feet. A roll-out skill adds an extra half somersault so the gymnast finishes by rolling forward along the floor instead (FloGymnastics). The Thomas salto is the best-known roll-out. It combined that extra rotation with one and a half twists.
That ending is what made it dangerous. In a roll-out there is no landing on the feet to absorb a mistake. If the gymnast under-rotates, the head and neck can hit the floor before anything else. FloGymnastics notes that roll-outs were dropped because of how precise the landing had to be.
Don’t confuse the salto with the Thomas flair, the circling, straddled leg swing Kurt Thomas made famous on pommel horse. That is a different skill, and it is still in the men’s Code (FIG MAG Table of Named Elements).
Kurt Thomas and the Skill’s History
Kurt Thomas won the floor title at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg with a 9.90 in the final (International Gymnastics Hall of Fame). It was the first time an American man had won a world gymnastics gold, and both the flair and the salto were named after him (Yahoo Sports). He won six medals at the 1979 Worlds, including gold on floor and high bar, then retired after the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics. He died in 2020, aged 64.
FIG’s records show the salto entering the men’s Code of Points in 1982 and being named after Thomas in 1985 (FIG MAG Table of Named Elements). Women performed roll-outs too, and women’s gymnastics dropped them first (FloGymnastics). The men followed later: FIG deleted the Thomas floor element and its name on 31 December 2016, so it has been absent from every men’s Code since 2017.
The Thomas salto is one of several famous skills that left the sport. Our guide to which gymnastics moves are really banned explains the others, from the Korbut flip to the Produnova vault, and which of them are still legal.
Elena Mukhina’s 1980 Injury
Elena Mukhina was one of the best gymnasts in the world at the end of the 1970s. At the 1978 World Championships she won the all-around ahead of Olympic champions Nadia Comăneci and Nellie Kim, one of five medals there (International Gymnastics Hall of Fame). Her name is still in the women’s Code on a bars skill and on a floor skill, a double back somersault with a full twist (WAG Code, pp.106, 168). She was also known for a twisting version of the Korbut flip on bars.
A broken leg in 1979 kept her out of several competitions and left little time to prepare for the Moscow Olympics. On 3 July 1980, two weeks before the Games, she was training a Thomas salto. She under-rotated, landed on her chin and severely damaged her spine, and she was left quadriplegic (International Gymnastics Hall of Fame). The injury happened in training, not in competition, and she never competed at the Olympics.
According to her Hall of Fame profile, Mukhina rarely spoke about the accident afterwards. In one of the few interviews she gave, she criticised the Soviet gymnastics program for its drive to win gold medals at any cost. The International Olympic Committee later awarded her the Olympic Order. She died on 22 December 2006, aged 46, of complications from quadriplegia, and was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2021.
Her accident is the injury most often linked to the Thomas salto. No FIG document we found names it as the reason the women’s rules changed, so it shouldn’t be read as the formal cause of a ban.
What the 2025–2028 Rules Say About Roll-Outs
The men’s and women’s Codes are written separately, and they treat many things differently. Roll-outs are a clear example.
| Program | Rule | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| FIG men, seniors | MAG Code 2025–2028, Art. 10.2.2, p.26 | Salto roll-outs and jumps to a prone position are “not permitted for value” |
| FIG women, seniors | WAG Code 2025–2028 | No ban clause; no roll-out salto in the floor table, so no value |
| FIG women, juniors | WAG Code, Junior modifications, p.183 | Floor acrobatic skills that take off sideways or land in a roll are prohibited |
Men: Not Permitted for Value
The men’s floor rules contain three related points (Art. 10.2.2, p.26):
- one and a half saltos that land on the hands and then push off from the hands are not permitted;
- salto roll-outs, and jumps that land in a prone (push-up) position, are not permitted for value;
- the only elements allowed to finish in a roll-out or a front support are those already listed in the tables, and for safety reasons no new ones will be added.
The first point is often quoted as the Thomas salto ban, but it covers a different landing: onto the hands, followed by a push away. The Thomas salto falls under the second point.
“Not permitted for value” sounds technical, but the effect is straightforward. A skill’s difficulty value is what it adds to the routine’s difficulty score, so a roll-out would add nothing while carrying all of the risk. With the Thomas element deleted from the tables since the end of 2016, men have no reason to perform it.
Women: No Value for Seniors, Prohibited for Juniors
The senior women’s Code has no ban clause for roll-outs in its general rules for bars, beam or floor. The skill simply isn’t listed in the floor table, so it earns no value. The women’s Help Desk adds that rolling forward or backward after a landing is judged as a fall (WAG Help Desk, 2nd edition, April 2026, p.40).
For juniors the rule is explicit. The junior modifications to the women’s Code prohibit floor acrobatic skills that land in a roll, along with those that take off sideways (p.183).
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Thomas salto illegal?
For men, yes: the current Code says salto roll-outs are not permitted for value, and the Thomas element was deleted at the end of 2016. Junior women are prohibited from roll-out landings. For senior women there’s no ban clause, but the skill isn’t in the Code, so it would score nothing.
Was Elena Mukhina injured in competition?
No. She was injured in training on 3 July 1980, two weeks before the Moscow Olympics.
Who was the Thomas salto named after?
Kurt Thomas, the 1978 world floor champion and the first American man to win a world gymnastics title. It was named after him in FIG’s Code in 1985.
Are all rolls banned in gymnastics?
No. Simple rolls are part of beginner routines, and the women’s bars table still lists the Radochla roll, a forward salto-roll on the high bar that ends in a hang (WAG Code, p.79). The rules target saltos that finish by rolling along the floor.
Is the Thomas flair banned too?
No. The Thomas flair is a pommel horse skill and is still in the men’s Code.
In Summary
The Thomas salto is a 1½ backward somersault with 1½ twists that finishes in a forward roll, named after 1978 world floor champion Kurt Thomas. It was always risky because an under-rotated roll-out puts the head and neck at risk, and Elena Mukhina’s paralysing training accident in July 1980 made that danger famous. Under the 2025–2028 rules, men’s gymnastics doesn’t permit salto roll-outs, junior women are prohibited from them, and senior women would get no value for one. In practice, the skill has left the sport.