Impress your friends

• 

  In the 1930s, physical education teacher and former university gymnastics champion George Nissen created this discipline after watching circus trapeze artists

• 

  At Sydney 2000, Russians Irina Karavaeva and Alexander Moskalenko won the first ever Olympic trampoline golds and were applauded by the sport's creator George Nissen

• 

  China's Chunlong Lu triumphed in a closely fought contest at Beijing 2008 that saw only four tenths of a point separate first and third places

• 

  China has won a third of all the men's and women's Olympic trampoline medals awarded to date, with three golds, one silver and four bronzes

• 

  However, Canada's Rosannagh MacLennan managed to beat the Chinese to the top of the podium at the London 2012 Games

• 

  Before it became a sport in its own right, trampolines were used for training astronauts and preparing athletes for other disciplines

• 

  It is not permitted to wear jewellery during competition, but trampolinists may wear rings without stones, so long as they are covered with tape