Here’s why the wolf turn is so difficult, even though everyone thinks they can do it

If you’ve been watching the Paris Olympics (if you aren’t, what are you doing?) you’ve likely been keeping up with some of Team USA’s biggest stars, the women’s gymnastics team. Though the squad — comprised of Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly River — closed out their competitive stint at the Games on Monday, their moves and medals have generated enough internet fodder for weeks to come. 

The final day of competition saw Biles, who by this point had already earned three gold medals in Paris, falter and ultimately fall during the beam finals. She wasn’t alone either. Lee took sixth place to Biles’ fifth, also falling as she attempted to complete her routine. A number of their competitors took a tumble as well. 

The difficult nature of the beam apparatus has led the internet to speculate how they might fare in a similar situation while trying to maintain balance before a global audience. The move they’ve honed in on? A wolf turn, a seemingly accessible turn style in which a gymnast, while seated in a squat position atop the beam (or even on the expanse of the floor exercise mat), will extend one leg outward and begin to spin on one foot with their arms stretched out. The turn's name derives from the athlete's leg positioning, and the skill has been around since at least 1966, according to Slate.

The turn’s low-impact appeal is something that’s led Olympic fans across social media to give it their best go. 

But watching the move as a spectator doesn’t necessarily give credence to its intensity — despite the wolf turn’s seeming ease, however, it’s anything but. A key reason gymnasts perform the move is for its difficulty level, meaning that judges are likely to give them a higher score value if they execute it correctly.

Last week, the U.S. Olympic Freeski team tried their hand (and feet) at completing a wolf turn, and the results showed just how skilled one must be to complete one. A montage of skiers tumbling and toe-gripping a barely raised beam for dear life lent a comical eye to the intricacy of nailing a wolf turn. “Turns out wolf turns are pretty hard, we fear,” the post's caption reads. 

“After Rio I tried doing this on my floor and I cramped my calf to hell,” one comment under the post read. “I'm pretty sure I would struggle even doing that on a solid ground,” another stated.

Comments of a similar ilk have flooded X/Twitter in recent days as well. 

“My husband knows the name of exactly one gymnastics move and he yells "WOLF TURN!" every time he sees it performed on tv,” one user wrote. 

“The wolf turn is so funny because they all struggle with it but it looks like the kind of thing your preschooler would be like HEY WATCH ME DO THIS and you’d be like wooooow honey great job. And yet I’m sure it’s like the hardest move you can do in gymnastics,” argued another.

Another person playfully quipped that the wolf turn, along with the similarly delicate aerial flip, was the reason they cited to their therapist for their general stress and anxiety.

This same reasoning led a number of Olympic fans ever to advocate for the removal of the wolf turn from Olympic routines altogether, citing its fundamentally nerve-wracking nature. 

“We need to retire the wolf turn GOD PLEASE,” one X/Twitter user wrote. 

“We have max. 1 wolf turn per routine now, but hear me out: max. 1 wolf turn per country,” suggested another.

So, what makes it so difficult? Vox noted in 2021 that the move partly requires a precarious balance of mass and inertia, which basically means you have to find your balance, put yourself in motion without any run-up and then stop it — elegantly and all from a low, squat position. When was the last time you were in a squat position, much less flexing your muscles while doing so? The extended leg acts as a lever, further throwing off your center of gravity. Putting all your weight on one foot while executing the move, also complicates matters. To execute this well requires an incredible amount of strength – both in the full body, but also in the feet and toes. 

Even Olympians find this difficult (see the evolution of Lee's skills). Respect the wolf turn.