Viktoria Komova
Encyclopedia
Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova was born 30 January 1995 in Voronezh
Voronezh
Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. She is a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 artistic gymnast and is the 2010 All-Around Youth Olympic Games Champion. She also won Gold on the vault and on the uneven bars at the same championships.

Komova, referred to as "Vika" by her family and friends, is the daughter of the 1985 World Champion
1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 23rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Montreal, Canada, in 1985.-Medals:-All-around:- Floor exercise :-Pommel horse:-Rings:-Vault:-Parallel bars:-Horizontal bar:-Team final:-All-around:- Vault :...

 (with team) and 1986 Goodwill Games All-Around Champion
1986 Goodwill Games
The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union...

, Vera Kolesnikova. Her father, Alexander Komov, was also a gymnast. She has a brother - also called Alexander (known as "Sasha")

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
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. She then took part in the Massilia Cup in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

 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
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 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
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 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
Aliya Mustafina
Aliya Fargatovna Mustafina , born 30 September 1994 in Yegorievsk, Russia is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2010 All Around World Champion. She also won Gold with the Russian team at the same championships and was the 2009 Russian national champion in the all around and on the balance beam...

 (who was injured and could not therefore take part in the champiosnhips), as the national champion. Both Mustafina and Komova are widely regarded as Russia's two best hopes for individual gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 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
2010 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 28th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held from 28 April to 2 May 2010 in Birmingham.- Timetable :- Medal Winners :- Team :- Vault :- Uneven Bars :- Balance Beam :- Floor :- All-Around :- Vault :- Uneven Bars :...

 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 competited at the 2010 Youth Olympics
Gymnastics at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
The Gymnastics competition of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore took place at the Bishan Sports Hall. There were events in Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline Gymnastics.-Artistic Gymnastics:-Rhythmic Gymnastics:-Trampoline Gymnastics:...

 in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 where her performances have led many to make her amongst the favourites for Gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

. Komova won the all-round 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
Nastia Liukin
Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin is a Russian-American artistic gymnast. She was the 2008 Olympic individual all-around Champion, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars...

. 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 the 13th 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 is now regarded as the main rivalry in Russian women's gymnastics, ahead of what International Gymnast Magazine is calling 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 the 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
2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 4th Individual European Artistic Gymnastics Championships was held in Berlin, Germany from the 4th April 2011 until the 10th April 2011. The event was held at the Max-Schmeling-Halle...

. In withdrawing her, her coach, Andrei Rodienenko, emphasised the need to protect Komova's health in the long term. He stated: "It is no great drama, we have the Olympics."

On the 15th May 2011, Komova travelled to the sporthopaedicum Munich at the ATOS Private Clinic in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 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 travelled with Komova as she was scheduled to undergo post operative evaluation re 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 the 18th May 2011. She returned to Russia on the 30th May 2011. She then returned to the ATOS Clinic in Munich on the 15th 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 will return to Russia on the 22nd June 2011 where she will begin light training.

On the 1st July 2011, it was reported in Full Twist that Komova will be returning to full training in mid-July 2011 and that Komova has actually had 2 surgeries on her ankle. Surgery was apparently required as a result of two separate injuries to the ankle, one causing a lay off of 6 weeks, and the second resulting in her being unable to train for 2 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 has grown 11 centimetres over the last 18 months, but that she feels that this has not adversely impacted on her training.

On the 13th July 2011, Russian head coach, Alexander Alexandrov, clarified the position regarding Komova and stated that he is 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 the 17th August 2011, Komova made a return to competitive gymnastics in the Russian Cup in Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...

. Whilst she was only able to perform watered down versions of her floor and vault routines whilst she continues 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
Anna Dementyeva
Anna Yurievna Dementyeva born on the 28 December 1994 in Samara, Russia is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 European all-around and beam champion, and a world gold medalist with the team.- Junior career :...

, 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 the 23rd August 2011, it was announced that Komova had been included in the Russian team for the 2011 World Championships
2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the International Federation of Gymnastics revealed it was...

 which will be taking place in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 from the 8th-16th October 2011.

Komova next competed at the Ghent Challenger Cup in Belgium from the 3rd-4th 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 the 17th-18th 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 in 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 continues to recover from injury.

Komova travelled to Tokyo for the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Competition, were 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 DTY on vault, but it is believed that she will compete her Amanar in competition, given that she has 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 USAs Jordyn Wieber
Jordyn Wieber
Jordyn Marie Wieber is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 All-Around World Champion, the 2011 U.S. Senior National Champion and the 2011 American Cup Champion. She was also the 2008 U.S. Junior National Champion and the 2009 American Cup Champion.-Personal life:Wieber was born in...

 and Komova took place. The competition started off on vault, where Komova performed a clean DTY 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 didn't finish the twist. She ended the routine after several balance checks and wobbles with a tucked double back and a sizeable step. On the last event of the day, floor, she impressed as usual by her style and dancing but had troubles with some skills, in particular the double Memmel turn of which she fell out of and the piked double back with a low landing. She came in second, only edged by Jordyn Wieber
Jordyn Wieber
Jordyn Marie Wieber is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 All-Around World Champion, the 2011 U.S. Senior National Champion and the 2011 American Cup Champion. She was also the 2008 U.S. Junior National Champion and the 2009 American Cup Champion.-Personal life:Wieber was born in...

 by a margin of 0.033 points. Komova was visibly disappointed and was afterwards heavily critized for not congratulating her competitors and taking her medal off when walking away from the podium.
The following day she offered a steady and very clean routine in the uneven bars finals and edged teammate Tatiana Nabieva
Tatiana Nabieva
- Junior career :She competed at the 2008 Junior European Gymnastics Championships, earning gold medals with the team, on balance beam and floor exercise. She earned a silver medal on vault and uneven bars...

 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
Ksenia Afanasyeva
Ksenia Dmitrievna Afanasyeva is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 World Champion in the Floor Exercise, and represented Russia at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the 1st day of competition, Ksenia qualified in 6th for the all around, however she did not qualify because of the two per...

 the chance to compete and earn her first individual world title.

Influences

According to Komova, the gymnasts who inspired her most are Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a popular Russian gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist, who is now a deputy at the Russian State Duma. With an unprecedented nine gold, eight silver, and three bronze World Championships medals, she is one of the most successful female gymnasts of her era and has...

 and Anastasia Liukin.

Website

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