Happy Birthday, Viktoria Komova!

Viktoria Komova celebrates her 18th birthday today, and in celebration Voronezh residents made this roadside tribute to the Olympic silver medallist.  Happy Birthday, Viktoria!

Picture courtesy of Sovietski Sport

Slightly less happily, Viktoria's mother, Vera Kolesnikova, has now confirmed that Vika will miss this spring's Russian Championships, and European Championships, to rest a back strain.  The Russian Ministry of Sport has elaborated, with translation courtesy of Alar at the All Around Forum :

'Viktoria will be in Voronezh where she'll continue to train lightly and do some conditioning. She's excused from participating at Russian Championships and Euros, but will prepare for Worlds.

Nothing serious was found with her back. Her pains were attributed to delayed puberty and it was decided that she has not fully recovered from the workload before the Olympics yet. She was given a month to recover physically and mentally.'

I wish Viktoria a rapid and full recovery.