Did You Know?: Olympic origin

What Olympic sport owes its origins to the University of Iowa?

Trampoline.

Photo courtesy of University of Iowa Libraries.

The modern trampoline was designed and built by George Nissen and Larry Griswold in the 1930s at the University of Iowa. Its purpose was to withstand continuous bouncing, and was used as a training tool for athletes and, eventually, astronauts.

It is the only known product invented in the United States that became an Olympic event.

Before Nissen and Griswold’s trampoline came on the scene, athletes and performers used one-bounce riggings that propelled them forward or upward in order to land on a mat or in the water.

The trampoline became a competitive National Collegiate Athletic Association event in 1948, and an Amateur Athletic Union event in 1954. It became an Olympic event in 2000.

Reference: www.nissentrampoline.com/uploads/Made_in_America.pdf