^
I am a gymnastics coach (although British I am now based in the US, and coach in San Francisco)
What many people don't realise is that over a standard vault run length (25m) the top male gymnasts are running faster than many world class 100m runners. (That is what they are trained for - by 30m the "proper" athletes would be in the lead)
The force of the springs in a top level springboard, combined with the force from a fast-moving male gymnast jumping hard on it, is controlled by webbing. You can see the force that is released if the attachment of the webbing to the springboard fails.
I have seen it happen once, with a female gymnast, and she also overshot the mandatory 6m of 200mm mat behind the vault. Her injuries were quite horrific, including a broken neck.
Me late for work as usual spot the 6-2 shift already clocked out...
Stolen from HLO