Rope and glory: extreme skipping set for Olympics

Jump to it: from left, Gemma McGhee, Laura Summers and Rachael and Beci Dale of the Jump Rope UK team. Members performed at the basketball test event in the Olympic Park

Laura Roberts

10 April 2012

Skipping could make the journey from school playground to the Olympics as an exciting variation of the game takes Britain by storm.

Extreme skipping involves performing acrobatic stunts while "jumping rope". Groups of accomplished practitioners can do back-flips, somersaults and aerial cartwheels as they keep in time with the rhythm.

The sport was showcased at last month's basketball test event featuring Great Britain and France at the Olympic Park in Stratford. The acrobatic performance was so successful that extreme skipping is being tipped as an official entertainment before, during and after basketball matches during next year's Games.

Sue Dale, the GB coach and mother of British champions Rachael, 22, and Beci, 23, said: "We've been doing this for 15 years. It started in an after-school club. I took over coaching the club and here we are.

"My girls are the number one and two in Britain. Now they go round the world taking skipping to people. They are natural gymnasts but most people pick it up as they go along.

"You have to be very fit to do it at this level. Some of our skippers train every day to make sure they can perform at their best. It's one of those sports that catches people's eye because it is not what they expect."

Mrs Dale, who trains her Jump Rope UK team in Redditch, Worcestershire, was approached by Games organising committee Locog to perform at the test event, which took place at the 12,000-seat basketball arena.

The squad was made up of four British women, four men from the US, three men from Belgium and a woman from Hungary.

A Locog spokeswoman said: "The skipping display at the basketball test event is just one of many elements which will be reviewed as part of the testing process. Plans for Games time will be announced early next year."

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