Who Else Knows These Facts About Trampolines

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Author: Paul Johnson II

Article source: http://www.opentopia.com/. Used with author's permission.

"El trampolino" was the Mexican word for "diving board", and one of the many words in common usage, which was once actually trademarked as "trampoline".

The first gold medal awarded in Olympic trampoline competition, went to Irina Karavaeva, of Russia. The event, which took place at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, was witnessed by George Nissen, the 86 year-old inventor of the trampoline.

The famous picture taken in the late 50s, of inventor George Nissen on a trampoline with a "tame" kangaroo, was only accomplished by Nissen holding its front paws when they got on it, so the animal could not kick him.

The Gillingham Jumpers, a club based in Kent, England, is the largest known trampoline club in the world, with 1500 members bouncing around the Jumpers Rebound Centre, every week.

Trampolines have entered the arena of "extreme sports", with some centers offering a combination of bungee jumping and trampoline jumping, where participants wear a harness attached to bungee cord rigging, that allows them to bounce extra high off the trampoline, without the danger of falling if they lose their balance.

The 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, includes a category for the longest slam-dunk of a basketball from a player bouncing on a trampoline.

Judy Wills Cline became the first World Champion on the trampoline, in 1964. Cline held a total of ten world titles in trampoline, synchronized trampoline, and tumbling. The first men's World Champion, also crowned in 1964, was Dan Millman, who is a noted personal growth author and speaker.

In 1986, a six-man team from the Delta Epsilon fraternity at Cleveland State University, set a Guinness World Book Record for 53 days of continuous bouncing on a trampoline. They received a phone call of congratulations from frater Ronald Reagan.