Viktoria Komova

Viktoria Komova
Personal information
Full name	Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova
Nickname(s)	Vika
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1995-01-30) 30 January 1995 Voronezh, Russia
Hometown	Voronezh, Russia
Height	149.86 cm (4 ft 11.00 in)
Weight	34.5 kg (76 lb)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior
Club	Dynamo Sports Club
Gym	"Lake Krugloe"
Head coach(es)	Gennadiy Yelfimov
Assistant coach(es)	Olga Bulgakova
Choreographer	Nadezhda Sezina
Eponymous skills	Komova (Uneven Bars)
Medal record Representing Russia Olympic Games 2012 London Team World Championships 2011 Tokyo Uneven Bars 2011 Tokyo All-Around 2011 Tokyo Team European Championships 2012 Brussels Uneven Bars 2012 Brussels Team Youth Olympic Games 2010 Singapore All-Around 2010 Singapore Uneven Bars 2010 Singapore Vault 2010 Singapore Floor Exercise

Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova (Russian: Виктория Александровна Комова) was born 30 January 1995 in Voronezh, Russia. She is a Russian artistic gymnast and is the 2010 All-Around Youth Olympic Games Champion and the 2011 World Uneven Bars Champion.

Komova, referred to as "Vika" by her family and friends, is the daughter of the 1985 World Champion and 1986 Goodwill Games All-Around Champion, Vera Kolesnikova. Her father, Alexander Komov, was also a gymnast. She has a brother, also named Alexander but known under the diminutive "Sasha".

Career

2007

Komova's first major junior competition was at the Voronin Memorial in 2007. She won on the vault and in the floor exercise.

2008

Komova began 2008 by finishing third in the all-around at the WOGA Classic in Texas. She then took part in the Massilia Cup in Marseille where she finished eleventh in the all around and seventh in the floor exercise. Her next competition was the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships in San Jose where she finished third in the all-around and fourth in both the uneven bars and beam. Her final competition of 2008 was the Voronin Memorial where she won the all-around, the floor exercise, and the vault. She also finished second on the uneven bars.

2009

First up for Komova in 2009 was the European Youth Olympic Festival in Finland where she won the all-around competition. She also won on the uneven bars and on the beam, and finished third in the vault. She then competed in the Japan Junior International where she also won the all-around, and the uneven bars and beam competitions. Her final competition of 2009 was the Voronin Memorial where she again won the all-around (as well as the uneven bars and floor exercise competitions).

2010

Komova's breakthrough performance came at Russian Nationals where she won the all-around title. She succeeded current all-around world champion Aliya Mustafina (who was injured and could not therefore take part in the championships), as the national champion. Both Mustafina and Komova were widely regarded as Russia's two best hopes for individual gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the female gymnastics competitions.

Komova also finished second on the uneven bars at the national championships.

Following on from her success in the national championships, Komova then competed in the junior competition at the 2010 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships where she achieved enormous success by contributing to the Russian's cleansweep. She won the all-around competition over teammate Grishina. She also won Gold with the Russian team and on the beam and vault, and finished second on the uneven bars.

Komova then competed at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore where her performances led many to make her amongst the favourites for Gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Komova won the all-around competition with what is currently the second highest score by any female gymnast under the current scoring system (61.250 - .2 behind Jordyn Wieber's 61.450 on Day 2 of the 2011 Visa Championships). She also won on the vault and on the uneven bars, and was third in the floor exercise.

Komova's performances at the 2010 Youth Olympics and throughout 2010 lead Lee Ann Gschwind of Universal Sports to state: "With her fluidity, form, and old school Soviet style, Komova has drawn comparisons to a young Nastia Liukin. And while she's not yet as polished as Liukin was when she won Olympic all-around gold in Beijing, Komova - with two years to go until London - is already more powerful...Komova has more power than her slight frame suggests. She throws an Amanar on vault and displays explosive tumbling to complement her elegant dance on floor. On balance beam, Komova's layout step-outs seem to float above the apparatus. And she carries an impressive 6.5 start value on the uneven bars, where her routine includes a unique transition, a layout Jaeger, and an opposite-direction Tkatchev. Komova's win in Singapore was her second major international title of 2010. This spring, she won the junior all-around at the European Championships, where she outshined the senior-level competitors [...] Komova, [along with Mustafina], is in a strong position to help return the Russians to the dominance of [the 1980s and early 1990s]."

On 13 November 2010, Komova competed in the "Freddy Cup" Italian Grand Prix (in which the women competed on beam and uneven bars) where she finished second to Mustafina in the balance beam competition. However, she won on the uneven bars.

Komova was originally scheduled to compete at the Toyota Cup in Japan in December where she would have again competed with Mustafina in what was regarded as the main rivalry in Russian women's gymnastics, ahead of what International Gymnast Magazine called the "anticipated all-around showdown between the two stars...at the Russian championships in March and European championships in April." However, this was changed and she was switched to compete at the Voronin Memorial event from 16–18 December 2010 instead. However, just before the event was scheduled to start, she had to withdraw after suffering a fractured ankle from tripping up whilst reportedly walking through the gym.

In November 2010, the following new uneven bars element was named after Komova: Clear pike circle bwd through hstd with flight and ½ turn (180°) to hang on HB (Element Value = E 4.508).

Despite her achievements, Komova stated that her best memory of 2010 was receiving a Shi Tzu puppy as a gift from her parents which she named Kutya.

2011

Komova began the new season by competing in Russian Nationals, but was still struggling with her ankle injury. Despite the injury, however, she still managed to help her team win the team competition and she finished third on the uneven bars. She also finished fourth on the beam.

Due to her persistent ankle injury, Komova was withdrawn from the European Championships. In withdrawing her, her coach, Andrei Rodienenko, emphasized the need to protect Komova's health in the long term. He stated: "It is no great drama, we have the Olympics."

On 15 May 2011, Komova traveled to the sporthopaedicum Munich at the ATOS Private Clinic in Munich with her mother, the same clinic where Aliya Mustafina had recently undergone knee surgery, to have her ankle injury evaluated as she was not recovering from the injury in the manner that had been expected. Mustafina also traveled with Komova as she was scheduled to undergo post-operative evaluation on her knee injury at the same time. The clinic determined that Komova's ankle required surgery (due to interior damage to the joint) and she duly underwent arthroscopic surgery on 18 May 2011. She returned to Russia on 30 May 2011. She then returned to the ATOS Clinic in Munich on 15 June 2011 for post-operative evaluation to ensure that her recovery was on track. The results of the evaluation were that her recovery was going very well and she would return to Russia on 22 June 2011 where she would begin light training.

On 1 July 2011, it was reported in Full Twist that Komova would be returning to full training in mid-July 2011 and that Komova had actually had two surgeries on her ankle. Surgery was apparently required as a result of two separate injuries to the ankle, one causing a lay off of six weeks, and the second resulting in her being unable to train for two months. Komova was quoted as stating that: "I was performing a skill and took a step back and twisted my leg — that’s how I got this injury. I got the first injury jumping off bars and the second one on floor exercise. It knocked my ankle out of place. I was taped, but it didn’t save me…And I started all over. But I don’t regret competing then. I wanted to test things…I wanted it and my coach wanted it and it looks like we just went too fast."

It was also reported by Full Twist in the same article that Komova had grown 11 centimeters over the prior 18 months, but that she felt that this had not adversely impacted her training.

On 13 July 2011, the Russian head coach, Alexander Alexandrov, clarified the position regarding Komova and stated that he was hopeful about Komova being ready in time for the 2011 World Championships. He told Russian Newspaper Sport Express that: "Vika is training now, but not quite at full strength...She does the general part with everyone, and then has an individual plan. We are hoping that she can compete at the World Championships." In relation to events since Komova was initially injured in December 2010, Alexandrov explained that after the injury in December 2010, Komova was fitted with a cast and followed standard recovery procedures for a sprain. She improved enough to compete in the Russian championships in February 2011, but re-injured the ankle. There was then debate between the Russian doctors about how to treat the injury. Some said that ankle stabilization surgery should be carried out to tighten the loose ligaments. Others disagreed. Alexandrov stated that: "The [Russian] doctors had different opinions: Some recommended an operation, the others insisted no operation was needed... and so that whole story dragged out until the examination in Germany [in May 2011]...There the doctors said right away that an operation was needed, since if one were not done, she could keep getting re-injured over and over."

On 17 August 2011, Komova made a return to competitive gymnastics in the Russian Cup in Yekaterinburg. Whilst she was only able to perform watered down versions of her floor and vault routines whilst she continued to recover from injury, she was able to perform her full uneven bars and beam routines. She won gold with her team and finished second in the all-around behind European all-around champion, Anna Dementyeva, scoring 58.875 (including 15.700 on the uneven bars and 15.150 on the beam). Komova also won gold in both the beam (15.525) and uneven bars (15.875) event finals.

On 23 August 2011, it was announced that Komova had been included in the Russian team for the 2011 World Championships which took place in Tokyo from 8–16 October 2011.

Komova next competed at the Ghent Challenger Cup in Belgium from 3–4 September 2011, but competed only on the beam and the uneven bars. She won the gold on the uneven bars with a score of 15.650, but could only finish fifth on the beam with a score of 13.850 after a fall on her flic, layout step-out, layout step-out combination.

In her final competition prior to the World Championships in October 2011, Komova competed at the 7th Dinamo International in Penza from 17–18 September 2011. Komova won the all-around with a score of 58.350 (14.450 vault, 15.550 uneven bars, 14.550 beam, 13.800 floor). Komova also won gold medals on the beam (15.134) and the uneven bars (15.667) event finals. She also finished fifth in the floor final with a score of 13.567 as she continued to deploy watered-down versions of her floor and vault routines as she continued to recover from injury.

Komova traveled to Tokyo for the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, where she competed in the qualifying round over the weekend. Russia qualified second to the team final, and Komova qualified first to the all-around final. She competed a double-twisting Yurchenko (5.8) on vault, but it was believed that she would compete her Amanar (6.5) in competition, given that she had been training it in Japan successfully. She also qualified first to beam and bars events finals, and fifth to floor exercise finals.

In the individual all-around finals, the much anticipated showdown between American Jordyn Wieber and Komova took place. The competition started off on vault, where Komova performed a clean double-twisting Yurchenko and placed in fourth position. On the uneven bars she showed her trademark routine with a double tuck 1/1 turn dismount and was the only gymnast on this day to score over a 15 on the uneven bars. However, on beam she struggled with several connections and a double turn that the judges downgraded because she failed to complete the twist. She ended the routine after several balance checks and wobbles with a tucked double back and a sizable step. On the last event of the day, floor, she impressed with her style and dancing but had troubles with some skills, in particular the double Memmel turn (which she fell out of) and the piked double back with a low landing. She won the silver, edged by Jordyn Wieber, by a margin of 0.033 points. The following day she offered a steady and very clean routine in the uneven bars finals and edged teammate Tatiana Nabieva for gold by half a point.

She also competed in the balance beam event finals, where she fell on the very same double turn she had had problems with in the individual all-around competition, which lead to an 8th place finish. Komova pulled out of floor finals due to a minor injury, giving her teammate Ksenia Afanasyeva the chance to compete and earn her first individual world title.

In November, Komova competed at the 2011 Elite Gym Massilia Cup, where she won gold with the Russian team, in the all-around and on the uneven bars. She also won a silver on the balance beam. In December, she competed at the Italian Grand Prix and won the women's titles in uneven bars and balance beam. At the 2011 Voronin Cup, Komova captured the all-around, balance beam, floor exercise and uneven bars, besting compatriot Aliya Mustafina in that event, who settled for silver.

2012

On June 17, Komova competed in the 2012 Russian Cup, winning gold in the all-around and balance beam finals, and silver in the floor finals.

Komova is competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, having been selected to be on the five-member Russian team. During the team qualification round, she performed cleanly, earning a total score of 60.632. Her strong performance assured her of spots in the all-around, uneven bars, and the balance beam finals, where she qualified in first, third, and second positions, respectively.

 the Team All-Around, she had clean performances on Vault, Bars, and Beam (aside from a mistake on the beam dismount). Team Russia won the silver medal (after a disastrous last rotation on floor) behind Team USA.

Influences

According to Komova, the gymnasts who inspired her most are Svetlana Khorkina and Anastasia Liukin.

Personal

Komova's favorite movie and book are Twilight and her favorite food is pizza.

Website

On 19 September 2011, Full Twist reported that Komova's official website had been taken down at the behest of the Russian Gymnastics Federation.

External links

• Viktoria Komova at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique