A bluffer's guide to artistic gymnastics: High bar

So. High bar. No matter how many times you watch it you will never not hold your breath until a gymnast makes it through.

The last of the apparatus to be profiled in Tokyo 2020’s Bluffer’s Guide to Artistic Gymnastics series before the final two disciplines – the individual all-around and the team events – take you up to the actual Olympic artistic gymnastics competition itself.

Only the men do the high bar – or horizontal bar if you like – one of six apparatus for men. It is the last event of the artistic gymnastics competition and boy could this particular event be the finale to end them all.

There are two gymnasts in particular to watch during qualifying that fans hope will make the final, for the romance of the sporting stories alone. Both will be featured in the ‘What to expect in the high bar final’ section below but one of those is also featured here as the showcase for a check-this-out routine.

So sit down, relax, and watch Japan’s UCHIMURA Kohei – that’s King Kohei to you – perform on high bar at Rio 2016 in the individual all-around event. You’re looking at his beautiful form – toes pointed, legs straight and locked together, high and difficult somersaults, and boom, a perfect landing and the exact moment he knows he's won Olympic gold. Watch this:

What to look out for

The Kovacs. This ridiculous move was first performed in competition by Hungary’s Peter Kovacs in 1979 but only became more mainstream recently. The only way to describe it is somersaulting stupidly high backwards over the bar, which is already 2.8 metres off the ground. Below, the video shows a 'basic' Kovacs, the second somersault that Egypt's Mohamed Afify does over the bar.

These days the gymnasts have taken it to extremes, not just the move itself, but by combining it with additional Kovacs to get more points from the judges and also to see how long viewers can hold their breaths. You know it’s coming because you see the gymnast winding up beforehand.

Scores on all apparatus are made up of an execution score (the E score) and the difficulty score (the D score). Both marks are shown to viewers, so for fans of the old-school perfect 10 scoring system, check out the E score. This starts at 10 and marks are removed by judges for loss of form such as toes not being pointed or a fall from the apparatus.

The D score is the total marks calculated by judges from the value given to each move performed by the gymnast via a Code of Points, which is renewed every Olympic cycle.

Japan's MIYACHI Hidetaka has rather gone overboard with this whole Kovacs business, performing the hardest move ever in gymnastics at the World Championships in Montreal, Canada in 2017. It's a double-twisting double layout over the bar, the only men’s element worth 0.9 in difficulty all by itself.

Now, no matter how big and clever you think you are with your Kovacs’ though, you must still catch the bar with arms outstretched, legs straight and toes pointed, if you’re going to get maximum kudos from the judges. Exhibits A (nope) and B (yep) below.

Take good note of that? Good. Now ignore it – for one gymnast only. See below.

What to expect in the high bar final

The wonderfully named Netherlands’ gymnast, Epke Zonderland, is a law unto himself on this piece of apparatus. His moves are so difficult and in such impossible combinations that he is forgiven almost anything. Check out his London 2012 gold medal-winning routine, with Dutch commentary for added fun. Yes his legs come apart, yes the routine is a little scatty but the difficulty and height of his moves, which he performs in combination one after the other, are legendary in gymnastics circles. For an added bonus point, see if you can hear his nickname mentioned by the commentator towards the end of the routine...

Back to King Kohei, the showcase gymnast at the beginning of this piece. Kohei Uchimura is arguably the best male gymnast ever. At his home Games he has rather been shoe-horned into this event but if he should make it to the high bar final come 3 August, this is a must-watch routine. With likely purely Japanese spectators, the beautiful lines of this just-about-perfect gymnast, up against the unconventional form of the quite frankly ludicrously good Zonderland will make for quite the finale.

Next up in the weekly bluffer's guide to artistic gymnastics series is the individual all-around competition, published Tuesday 13 July. If you missed any of the previous articles in the series, read here for Vault, Rings, Uneven Bars, Parallel Bars, Beam, Floor and Pommel Horse.