Article
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The History of the Trampoline

It all began with a whimsical idea: Bouncing could be a lot of fun.

By Lauren Tarshis
From the October/November 2019 Issue

It was 1930, and 16-year-old George Nissen was at the circus, watching a trapeze show. But Nissen wasn’t staring at the trapeze artists, who were flipping and twisting high up in the air. His eyes were glued to the safety net stretched out below them. At the end of each routine, the trapeze artists would let themselves fall into the net, which caught them like a springy mitt and sent them back up into the air.

Now that looks fun, Nissen thought.

And in that instant, the idea for the trampoline was born.

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Trampoline inventor George Nissen jumps with a kangaroo friend.

A Dangerous Thrill

©Sho Tamura/AFLO/ZUMA Wire

Trampolining is now an Olympic sport.

Nissen went home and began to work on a new invention. He took a sheet of canvas and stretched it across a frame made of steel. At first he called the contraption “the bouncing rig.” But a few years later he came up with a far better name—trampoline, from the Spanish word for diving board.

Nissen worked hard to improve his creation. A gymnast himself, he performed demonstrations around the world. He started a company to produce and sell trampolines—and made millions of dollars.

Trampolines sprouted up all over America—in backyards, in public “bounce centers,” even at some gas stations, where road-weary kids could spring up and down while their parents filled their gas tanks. The U.S. military used them to train pilots and parachutists.

There was no denying the thrill of vaulting into the air. But there was—and still is—a major problem with trampolines: They are dangerous. Every year, thousands of bouncers are injured, some seriously.

But Nissen never lost his passion for his apparatus. In 2000, one of his dreams came true: Trampolining became an Olympic sport.

So the next time you leap on a trampoline, be careful. And thank George Nissen for the thrill of flying through the air. 

This article was originally published in the October/November 2019 issue.

Can't-Miss Teaching Extras

Learn all about Olympic trampoline in this Wall Street Journal interview with Steve Gluckstein, the only man from the United States who was selected to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games! Then, watch the mesmerizing performance that earned Dong Dong, a Chinese trampoline gymnast, the Olympic gold medal that year.

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