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Flying high Karavaeva of Russia wins trampoline goldPosted: Friday September 22, 2000 8:00 AMUpdated: Monday November 13, 2000 2:11 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- World champion Irina Karavaeva of Russia easily won the gold medal in the inaugural Olympic women's trampoline on Friday, soaring as high as 25 feet in the air. Karavaeva's appeared to be floating as she flew through the air. Oxana Tsyhuleva of Ukraine took the silver and Karen Cockburn of Canada won the bronze. ``It's an adrenaline rush. I'm actually afraid of heights, which is really funny,'' Cockburn said. ``But it's a different feeling on the trampoline.'' Karavaeva, 25, has been winning world championships since 1994. She won the individual event at the World Cup in Vienna this year, when she also finished second in the synchronized event.
Trampoline has been around since 1936 and by the early 1960s, it was a competitive sport, despite the critics. Enthusiasts insist it really is a sport, that it takes strength, skill and endurance to do those heart-stopping, high-flying flips. ``It's a viable sport with any other sport,'' said Judy Wills Cline, the first world champion. ``This is much, much harder than it looks. They don't know us if they criticize us. Just like a lot of people criticize table tennis and synchronized swimming.'' To be fair, the tricks the trampoline athletes do aren't easy or for the faint of heart. Karavaeva, the reigning world champion, looks almost like a diver as she flips and twists in the air. Only she doesn't have a big pool of water underneath her, just a springy piece of canvas and the floor. ``She's doing the most difficulty I've ever seen,'' said American competitor Jennifer Parilla. ``She jumps very high and I think she needs to because the more difficulty there is, the more skill you need.'' At any minute, disaster is just waiting to happen. Anna Dogonadze of Germany led after the qualification round, but she got too far back on one of her tricks and actually bounced off the mat, landing on the protective cushion behind the trampoline. George Nissen, co-inventor of the trampoline, traveled to Sydney for the debut. The 86-year-old sat in one of the front rows, beaming as his creation got center stage in sport's biggest showcase. ``We used to say, Are we going to get it to the Olympics?''' he said. ``And people would say it would be 2000 before that happens.'' The men's trampoline competition is Saturday. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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