George Nissen

George P. Nissen ( born 1 February 1914 in Blairstown, Iowa, † April 7, 2010 in San Diego, California ) was a former American gymnast who invented the modern trampoline.

Life

During his school career came Nissen with the gymnasts in contact. He was a member of a local association Turner. In high school, he devoted himself intensively to the gymnastics.

When he visited a circus event with his family, he came up with the idea for the later invention of the modern trampoline. He watched gymnasts on trapeze and gave particular attention to the safety net on which the artistes landed at the end of a performance. Due to the elasticity it was possible for them to make elegant movements, further, they were protected by the network. Nissen came to the conclusion that this device suitable well for school gymnastics, as it allowed to make an equally elegant figures. He coined the term trampoline after the Spanish word for " diving board ". In 1941 he opened together with Laurens (Larry ) V. Griswold Griswold -Nissen Trampoline the company & Tumbling Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the production and sale gymnastic equipment. During the Second World War he served in the Navy and the trampolines were used in the air orientation within the pilot training.

After the war began Nissen world with a production of trampoline competitions. A commercial shows him in 1960 at New York's Central Park jumping on the trampoline with a rented kangaroo.

He worked years because the trampoline sport would be olympic and was in the first Olympic trampolining present at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Nissen died in the morning at a hospital in San Diego from the effects of pneumonia.

Honors

According to him, the oldest trampoline competition, which has been held since 1958 Nissen Cup in Davos was named.