The Events

The official directives for the 28th Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships can be downloaded here.

The schedule of events for the World Championships is detailed below giving a breakdown of the qualifying and finals events on each day of the competition. The opening ceremony will take place on Friday 18 November and the closing ceremony will take place on Sunday 20 November. To buy tickets click here or call 0844 581 4900.

17-20 & 24-27 November 2011

In November 2011 the World Championships in Trampoline, Tumbling and Double Mini Trampoline will take place at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.

The event will see the world's best gymnasts in these disciplines competing in one of the most prestigious competitions in the FIG (International Federation of Gymnastics) calendar. The event was last held in this country over 40 years ago in London in 1967.

The world championships encompasses 8 events (4 male/4 female) held over a three-day period as well as the World Age Group Championships (Junior competition). It is expected that around 650 gymnasts and officials from 40 countries will attend the world championships while the junior competition expects to attract around 1200 participants.

The event will also be the qualification competition for the trampoline discipline for the 2012 London Olympic Games. In addition, the official equipment supplier, Gymnova, will also be using the competition as a test run for their involvement in the London Games.

The World Championships will take place from 17 to 20 November while the World Age Group Championships will take place from 24 to 27 November.

The timetable for both events will appear here once it has been finalised.

TRAMPOLINE

This is a spectacular sport that can require a top trampolinist to reach heights of 10 metres whilst performing multiple somersaults and twists. As well as being a sport in its own right, it is widely recognised as a training tool for many other gymnastic disciplines and sports such as diving and freestyle skiing.

Trampolining can be seen as a reflection of man's desire to defy gravity. Early civilisations devised various methods of sending a person into the air, such as using outstretched animal skins to throw them up and safely catch them on their descent. Circuses have used a number of methods to propel performers into the air for a variety of somersaults.

TUMBLING

This discipline is extremely spectacular and requires dynamic reactions, spatial awareness, co-ordination, power, strength and courage. The action takes no more than a few seconds but requires years of hard work.

The gymnast gains speed and power by running along a 25- metre track and performing a series of somersaults and twists. Top class tumblers perform no less than two double somersaults in one run, the best of them three, with twisting elements in addition.

DMT

The DMT is like two mini trampolines that have been joined in the middle. The first is at an angle and called the mount, from which skills are performed onto the second mini trampoline. The second mini trampoline is called the spotter, where skills can be performed back onto the mini or as a dismount onto the landing mat.

DMT is really a combination of Athletics, Trampolining and Gymnastics. Competitors sprint down a track and hurtle onto the DMT before performing double and triple somersaults with the same technical requirements as required on trampoline. The only difference is that they have to land on a bed less than a quarter the size of a trampoline before performing a dismount on to a landing mat.