The True Story Of The First Person To Backflip: 4 Historical 'Firsts' That Rewrote The Record Books
The seemingly simple question, "Who was the first person to backflip?" leads down a fascinating rabbit hole that spans over 3,000 years of history, involves ancient rituals, mythical knights, and Olympic legends. As of late 2025, the answer isn't a single name but a collection of groundbreaking figures who achieved this gravity-defying feat in different eras and contexts. The search for the original backflipper reveals a journey from life-or-death acrobatics to the precision of modern sport, proving that the human desire to flip head-over-heels is one of the oldest forms of physical expression.
The term 'backflip'—or 'back somersault'—is so ubiquitous today that it’s easy to assume its origin is a clear, documented moment. However, the true "first" depends entirely on whether you are talking about a mythical medieval figure, the earliest visual evidence, the first in modern competitive gymnastics, or the first successfully landed in extreme sports.
The Mythical 'First': Sir John H. Backflip (1316 AD)
The most specific, yet least credible, answer to the question of the first backflip involves a 14th-century figure named Sir John H. Backflip. This claim has gained traction in recent years, often appearing in AI-generated summaries and on various online forums, giving it a veneer of historical fact.
The Legend of the Knight and the Somersault
The story alleges that Sir John H. Backflip was a knight and acrobat in the service of King Edward II of England in the year 1316. The narrative suggests that he performed the very first recorded backward somersault, thus giving the move his name due to a peculiar case of nominative determinism.
- Alleged Date: 1316 AD
- Alleged Location: England, during the reign of King Edward II
- Historical Verdict: The story is widely considered a comical myth, an internet meme, or a spurious piece of fiction, as there is no credible historical documentation of a knight with that name or a recorded event of this nature. It serves as a cautionary tale about trusting uncited historical claims, especially those that sound too perfect to be true.
The Earliest Visual Evidence: Minoan Bull-Leapers (2000–1400 BCE)
If we shift the focus from a documented name to the earliest *visual evidence* of a backflip-like maneuver, the timeline stretches back thousands of years to the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean. The true ancestors of the backflip were the brave performers of the Ancient Minoan civilization.
The Minoan bull-leaping ritual (known as Toreador) from the island of Crete, dating from approximately 2000 to 1400 BCE, shows acrobats performing incredible feats over the backs of charging bulls.
Acrobatics and the Bull-Leaping Ritual
Artwork, most famously frescoes found at the Palace of Knossos, depicts a sequence of maneuvers that closely resemble a modern back somersault. The ritual is believed to have involved three stages:
- The acrobat would approach the bull from the front, grasping its horns.
- They would use the bull's momentum to launch themselves over its back.
- During this leap, the acrobat would execute a flip—a high-speed rotation over the bull's spine—before landing on the ground behind the animal.
While not a standing backflip on solid ground, this maneuver required the same core mechanics, speed of rotation, and body control as a modern back somersault. These anonymous Minoan bull-leapers are arguably the first people captured in art performing a precursor to the backflip.
The Modern Sports 'First': Olga Korbut (1972 Olympics)
In the context of modern, competitive sports, the person who revolutionized the back somersault and brought it into the global spotlight was the Soviet gymnast, Olga Korbut. While acrobats in circuses and vaudeville had been performing backflips for centuries, Korbut was the first to successfully integrate the move into the rigorous discipline of Olympic gymnastics.
Biography of Olga Korbut: The Sparrow of Minsk
- Full Name: Olga Valentinovna Korbut
- Born: May 16, 1955 (Grodno, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union)
- Nationality: Soviet/Belarusian
- Key Achievements: 4-time Olympic Gold Medalist, 2-time Olympic Silver Medalist
- The "First" Moment: 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich
At the 1972 Munich Olympics, 17-year-old Korbut captivated the world by performing two unprecedented, dangerous backward maneuvers:
- Back Somersault on the Balance Beam: Korbut was the first gymnast ever to perform a back somersault on the balance beam in international competition. This move, executed on a four-inch-wide apparatus, was considered incredibly daring and raised the difficulty level of the sport overnight.
- The Korbut Flip: She also performed the Korbut Flip on the uneven bars—a backward release move where she stood on the high bar and flipped backward to re-grasp it.
Korbut's pioneering backflips were a major catalyst for the "modern" era of gymnastics, inspiring a generation of athletes and proving that the back somersault was a fundamental element of elite performance.
The Extreme Sports 'First': Caleb Wyatt (2002)
The backflip took on a whole new level of danger and spectacle in the world of extreme sports. The Freestyle Motocross (FMX) backflip, performed on a 250cc dirt bike, is arguably the most publicized and dangerous 'first' of the modern era.
The Battle for the FMX Backflip
The race to land the first motorcycle backflip was a high-stakes competition in the early 2000s, primarily involving two riders: Carey Hart and Caleb Wyatt.
Carey Hart's Pioneering Attempt:
In 2000, Carey Hart became the first person to *attempt* the backflip on a full-sized motorcycle during a competition at the Gravity Games. He successfully rotated and landed the bike upright but crashed immediately after, failing to ride away cleanly. This attempt, despite the crash, is widely seen as the moment that broke the mental barrier for the trick.
Caleb Wyatt's Successful Landing:
The honor of the first person to successfully land a backflip on a large motorcycle goes to Caleb Wyatt. On April 25, 2002, at the Rogue Valley Motocross track in Central Point, Oregon, Wyatt executed the trick perfectly, riding away cleanly to secure his place in extreme sports history. This successful landing marked the true beginning of the FMX backflip era, which would later see the evolution of the double and triple backflip, pioneered by legends like Travis Pastrana and Josh Sheehan.
Conclusion: The Ever-Evolving First
The question of the first person to backflip has no single, simple answer, but rather a rich, complex history that speaks to human athleticism and daring. From the ancient Minoan bull-leapers performing a life-or-death somersault over 3,000 years ago, to Olga Korbut bringing the back somersault to the Olympic stage in 1972, and finally to Caleb Wyatt conquering the motorcycle backflip in 2002, the backflip has continually been redefined. The mythical Sir John H. Backflip may be a fun story, but the true "firsts" are the verifiable pioneers who pushed the boundaries of what the human body—and a dirt bike—could achieve.
The backflip remains a benchmark for acrobatic skill, a timeless maneuver that connects modern athletes with their ancient predecessors. It is a symbol of courage, precision, and the relentless pursuit of defying gravity.
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