Wheel gymnastics

International Wheel Gymnastics Federation (IRV)
Internationaler Rhönradturnverband
Formation	January 1995
Founder	Switzerland, Japan, Germany, Netherlands
Founded at	Basel, Switzerland
Purpose	Conduct the gym wheel and cyr wheel sports on an international level
Headquarters	Bern, Switzerland
Official language	English
Leader	Mathias Reich, Switzerland
Website	https://wheelgymnastics.sport/

Aachen (1996)

RollAix Performers on ice, RWTH Aachen U. (2009)

Russian circus performer (2009)

Würzburg (1931)

Wheel gymnastics (German: Rhönradturnen) is a form of gymnastics that originated in Germany. Wheel gymnasts do exercises in a large wheel or hoop known as the Rhönrad, gymnastics wheel, gym wheel, or German wheel, in the beginning also known as ayro wheel, aero wheel, and Rhon rod.

Wheel design

The large wheel consists of two circles in parallel, which are framed together with six spokes. Two are simple tubes, two are equipped with a handle and two have a footrest. The diameter of the wheel depends on the length of the gymnast, so that the gymnast can hold themselves on the grips when fully stretched. The wheels are available from a diameter of 130 to 245cm. The wheels weigh between 40 and 60 kg. They are available in several depths and colors.

History

The wheel was invented in 1925 by Otto Feick in Schönau an der Brend. The grandson of a blacksmith, Feick was inspired by the memory of an event from his childhood in Reichenbach, when he had tied sticks between two hoops that his grandfather had made and rolled down a hill.^[1]

He filed for a patent as "wheel-gymnastic and sports equipment". He had invented the wheel in Ludwigshafen am Rhein c. 1920–1922, on the grounds of the VSK Germania, a sports club, of which he was the founding chairman. The patent was issued on 8 November 1925; the name "Rhönrad" has been registered and protected since 1926 ("Rhön" is the name of the mountain region where the wheel was invented).

The Rhönrad was featured at the GeSoLei trade fair held in Düsseldorf in 1926.^[2]

In 1936, this sport was shown at the Olympic Games in Berlin, but was not presented as an Olympic discipline.

The focus of wheel gymnastics remains largely in Germany, but there are wheel groups in several countries and every 2 years the International Wheel Gymnastics Federation holds a World Championships competition.^[3] Former world champion wheel gymnast Wolfgang Bientzle moved from Germany to Chicago and runs his own company WHEEL JAM to educate and train people of every age to do Wheel gymnastics.^[4]

Disciplines^[5]

The discipline straight-line
The discipline spirale (small spirale)
Straight-line: In straight-line, the wheel is set in motion on both rims. The imaginary lines traced by the rims in contact with the floor are parallel. Straight-line can be performed with or without music. At the world championships the seniors (older than 18 years old) perform with music, while the juniors perform without music.
Spirale: The wheel is set in motion on one rim and for most skills the wheel rim in contact with the floor traces an approximately circular path. There are 3 categories of elements in spirale. In the "big spirale" the path of the wheel is bigger than the diameter of the wheel and the angle between the wheel and the floor is bigger than 60° degree. In the "small spirale" the angle is less than 30° and the path of the wheel on the is smaller the diameter of the wheel. In the "vertical spirale" the wheel moves in an almost upright position. The path of the wheel on the floor is extremely small. The wheel rotates around the longitudinal axis.
Vault: The gymnast sets the wheel in motion. After a run-up the gymnast mounts the wheel, from where he/she performs can perform various dismounts on to a landing mat. Examples of dismounts are tuck/pike/straight front sommersaults.
The discipline vault (only dismount pictured)

Code of points^[6]

In the code of points is exactly described how the routines are judged. At the world championship 2022 in Sønderborg the IRV presented a big update for the code of points.

The score of each discipline (except straight-line with music) is calculated in the following way. In straight-line with music the average of the execution and the artistic impression is added instead of only the execution:

Difficulty (max 10,0) + Execution (max 10,0) - Neutral deductions = max 20, Points

The difficulty score consist of max 8,0 (8 most difficult elements count) for the difficulty of the elements and 2,0 for fulfilling structure groups. The execution score is calculated by deducting 0,1 (minor deduction), 0,3 (medium), 0,5 (major) or 1,0 (fall / assist of coach) from the 10,0.

International Wheel Gymnastics Federation (IRV)

The International Wheel Gymnastics Federation (short IRV), respectively original Internationale Rhönradturnverband is a federation for the sports cyr wheel and gym wheel. It was created 1995 in Basel by the members Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands.

Members

Members are the national federation of the following countries.^[7] There are 4 Types of members (Entry Member, Bronze Member, Silver Member and Gold Member). The higher the level the more the country has to pay and the more they can profit from the IRV.^[8]

Germany (since 1995, Gold Member)
Switzerland (since 1995, Gold Member)
United States (since 2009, Gold Member)
Japan (since 1995, Bronze Member)
Netherlands (since 1995, Bronze Member)
Norway (since 1997, Bronze Member)
Austria (since 2003, Bronze Member)
Colombia (since 2011, Bronze Member)
Israel (since 2012, Bronze Member)
Denmark (since 2015, Bronze Member)
France (since 2024, Bronze Member)

Activities

The IRV organizes all international competitions like the World Championship. The federation is also responsible for developing scoring regulations, competition concepts and training programs. Larger projects of the various members are sometimes partly supported financially and announced on the website. The mission of the IRV is to spread the gym wheel and cyr wheel more around the world.^[9]

Athletes' Commission^[10]

The purpose of the Athletes' Commission (short AC) is to gather and filter ideas, interests, comments of the wheel gymnastics community (athletes, coaches, judges, etc.) and forward the important ones to the IRV. The Athletes' Commission consists of a of maximum 2 cyr athletes, 2 gymwheel athletes and 2 coaches, who are elected from the delegations at the World Championships. The mandate lasts until the next World Championship.

2024 - 2026: - Simon Rufener, - Achim Pitz, - Malena Kernacs, - Cyrus Luciano

2022 - 2024: - Simon Rufener, - Katja Homeyer, - Isabel Pietro, - Kanai Shigeki

2020 - 2022: - Simon Rufener, - Katja Homeyer, - Svea Hünnig, - Yasuhiko Takahashi, - Tammi Livni

World championships

The IRV (Internationaler Rhönradturnverband) organizes every two years a world championship. Between these world championships the IRV organizes a team world championship, where the best 4 countries (qualified at the normal world championship) compete as a team against each other.

Previous World Championships:^[11]

Nr.	year	city	country
1	1995	Den Helder	Netherlands
2	1997	Antwerpen	Belgium
3	1999	Limburg an der Lahn	Germany
4	2001	Liestal	Switzerland
5	2003	Lillehammer	Norway
6	2005	Aachen Bütgenbach	Germany Belgium
7	2007	Salzburg	Austria
8	2009	Baar	Switzerland
9	2011	Arnsberg	Germany
10	2013	Chicago	United States
11	2015	Lignano Sabbiadoro	Italy
12	2016 *	Cincinnati	United States
13	2018	Magglingen	Switzerland
–	2020 **	New York	United States
14	2022	Sønderborg	Denmark
15	2024	Almere	Netherlands

* From there on the IRV organized the world championship at even years.

** The world championship was canceled, because of COVID-19.

World champions

Senior Men

Nr.	Year	Straight-line	Spirale	Vault	All-round (2)	All-round (3 disciplines)
1	1995	- Wolfgang Bientzle	- Wolfgang Bientzle	—	—	—
2	1997	- Miroslav Zorbic	- Norbert Sinz	—	—	—
3	1999	- Wolfgang Bientzle	- Wolfgang Bientzle	- Wolfgang Bientzle	- Wolfgang Bientzle	- Wolfgang Bientzle
4	2001	- Jan Schäfer	- Jan Schäfer	- Jan Schäfer	—	- Jan Schäfer
5	2003	- Julius Petri	- Julius Petri	- Jan Schäfer	—	- Julius Petri
6	2005	- Achus Emeis	- Constantin Malchin	- Achus Emeis	—	- Achus Emeis
7	2007	- Achus Emeis	- Constantin Malchin	Motonobu Tamura	—	- Achus Emeis
8	2009	- Robert Maaser	- Robert Maaser	- Robert Maaser	—	- Robert Maaser
9	2011	- Boy Looijen	- Christoph Clausen	- Robert Maaser	—	- Robert Maaser
10	2013	- Kazuya Ezuka	- Motonobu Tamura	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	—	- Yasuhiko Takahashi
11	2015	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	- Max Brinkmann	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	—	- Yasuhiko Takahashi
12	2016	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	- Marcel Schawo	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	—	- Marcel Schawo
13	2018	- Carsten Heimer	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	- Yasuhiko Takahashi	—	- Yasuhiko Takahashi
14	2022	- Simon Rufener	- Malte Schröder	- Ryuichi Goto	—	- Simon Rufener
15	2024	- Simon Rufener	- Johannes Stolper	- Ryuichi Goto	—	- Simon Rufener

Senior Women

Nr.	Year	Straight-line	Spirale	Vault	All-round (2)	All-round (3 disciplines)
1	1995	- Maike Klatte	- Maike Klatte	—	—	—
2	1997	- Claudia Geyer	- Janin Oer	—	—	—
3	1999	- Katja Homeyer	- Maike Klatte	- Lena Bertelsen	Maike Klatte	- Maike Klatte
4	2001	- Julia Pohling	- Julia Pohling	- Julia Pohling	—	- Julia Pohling
5	2003	- Janin Oer	- Janin Oer	- Naomi Kunihiro	—	- Julia Pohling
6	2005	- Janin Oer	- Nadine Burkhardt	- Takako Hiwa	—	- Janin Oer
7	2007	- Cécile Meschberger	- Janin Oer	- Heidi Hagen	—	- Janin Oer
8	2009	- Jenny Hoffmann	- Kathrin Schad	- Kirstin Heerdink	—	- Svenja Trepte
9	2011	- Laura Stullich	- Svenja Trepte	- Kirstin Heerdink	—	- Laura Stullich
10	2013	- Laura Stullich	- Kathrin Schad	- Sarah Metz	—	- Riccarda Vogel
11	2015	- Cheyenne Rechsteiner	- Yana Looft	- Sarah Metz	—	- Lilia Lessel
12	2016	- Lilia Lessel	- Yana Looft	- Lilia Lessel	—	- Lilia Lessel
13	2018	- Kira Homeyer	- Cheyenne Rechsteiner, - Lilia Lessel	- Myrna van Berkel	—	- Kira Homeyer
14	2022	-Birgit Halwachs, -Karina Peisker, -Horiguchi Aya	- Lilia Lessel	- Sarah Metz	—	- Karina Peisker
15	2024	- Kira Homeyer	- Cheyenne Rechsteiner	- Armoni Inbar	—	- Kira Homeyer

Junior Boys

Nr.	Year	Straight-line	Spirale	Vault	All-round
15	2024	- Timon Peter	- Patrick Møller	- Aquila Ziddah	- Timon Peter

Junior Girls

Nr.	Year	Straight-line	Spirale	Vault	All-round
15	2024	- Annika Wasmuth	- Frieda Wilke	- Bar Dubinsky	- Sophie Julius

Team

Nr.	Year	Winner Team	Athletes
1	1995	—
2	1997	—
3	1999	Germany	Katja Homeyer, Ines Meurer, Janin Oer, Maike Klatte, Wolfgang Bientzle, Nico Budniok
4	2001	Germany	Julia Pohling, Janin Oer, Ursula Kömen, Jan Schäfer, Julius Petri, Constantin Malchin
5	2003	Germany	Jan Schäfer, Julia Pohling, Janin Oer, Constantin Malchin, Holger Schneider, Julius Petri
6	2005	Germany	Nadine Burkhard, Katrin Schwaben, Janin Oer, Julius Petri, Achus Emeis, Constantin Malchin
7	2007	Germany	Janin Oer, Julius Petri, Achus Emeis, Constantin Malchin, Sabine Bierfreund, Christoph Clausen
8	2009	Germany	Jenny Hoffmann, Julia Pohling, Constantin Malchin, Robert Maaser, Simon Knapp, Christoph Clausen
9	2011	Germany	Jenny Hoffmann, Svenja Trepte, Laura Stullich, Kathrin Schad, Robert Maaser, Christoph Clausen
10	2013	Germany	Svenja Trepte, Christoph Clausen, Riccarda Vogel, Kathrin Schad, Sarah Metz, Laura Stullich
11	2015	Germany	Yana Looft, Marcel Schawo, Sarah Metz, Lilia Lessel, Jasmin Schönbach, Dirk Wünsch

References

^ Jaedicke, Thomas (8 November 2015). "Patent für zwei Reifen und sechs Sprossen" [Patent For Two Hoops and Six Cross-bars]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
^ "Wir in den wilden Zwanzigern – Goldene Jahre" [We in the wild Twenties - Golden Years]. wdr (in German). 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
^ "2020 World Championships". International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ "Chicago Wheel Jam". Chicago Wheel Jam. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ Sollohub, Maria (15 August 2022). "Gym Wheel Regulations 2023". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
^ Sollohub, Maria (15 August 2022). "Gym Wheel Regulations 2023". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
^ Henning (18 May 2019). "Members & Clubs". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
^ Henning (23 January 2022). "Membership Pass". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
^ https://wheelgymnastics.sport/files/uploads/2020/04/IRV-Articles-of-Association-01.01.2015.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ Sollohub, Maria (13 August 2022). "Athletes' Commission". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
^ Henning (22 September 2022). "World Championships". IRV | International Wheel Gymnastics Federation. Retrieved 14 August 2024.