Bernd Jäger (born 18 November 1951 in

Kahla Kahla () is a town in the Saale-Holzland district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, 14 km south of Jena. Mayors *1990–2012: Bernd Leube *2012–2018: Claudia Nissen *2018–incumbent: Jan Schönfeld People wh ...

) is a former

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

who competed in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

. In the 1974 world championships in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

, competing on

horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

, he first performed his forward somersault starting from forward giant and ending in backward swing, named later ''Jägersalto''. With this element, Jäger started the worldwide development of release elements on high bar, followed by innovations by

Eberhard Gienger Eberhard Gienger (; born 21 July 1951) is a German politician ( CDU) and former West German gymnast. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, winning bronze in the latter. Gymnastics career During his gymnastics career from 1971 to 1 ...

, Stoyan Delchev and others.

References

1951 births People from Kahla Living people German male artistic gymnasts Olympic gymnasts of East Germany Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in gymnastics Sportspeople from Thuringia Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Originators of elements in artistic gymnastics {{Germany-artistic-gymnastics-bio-stub