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.

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Viktoria Komova - Happy Birthday!

Viktoria Komova, born 30th January 1995, celebrates her birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Viktoria! Have a lovely day.

Time to revisit a picture gallery posted last year ... amd to hope for a good year for Viktoria and her fans.


I was doing something far more important, researching an article, when these pictures of Viktoria Komova  caught my eye.

They are far from the standard gymnastics pictures of gymnasts celebrating, commiserating, or caught in the midst of their most graceful pose.  Not the best, most aesthetic images to view.  When looking at pictures of gymnasts I am often conscious of selecting the ones taken from the most flattering angle, avoiding the shot with the bent legs, the out of control arms. I took a different viewpoint here, choosing Komova at the most stressed, the least stagey point of her work.  These pictures capture Komova in flight, in the height of motion and effort.  There is no contrivance to them, no trained pose or pause to impress the judges. 

Viktoria Komova is a rare gymnast, classical in style and execution.  Her national heritage of ballet, her family heritage of the best of sport is visible in her posture and carriage.  Every single move, from a simple leap or transition to the most complex of somersault, is performed with absolute amplitude, her line sharp and clear.  Besides her own special talent, it is the result of the meticulous attention of a choreographer from the earliest days of her career.  It is gymnastics that pays respect to a broader culture of movement that is recognisable in other art forms, such as dance.  Such gymnastics renders a Code of Points useless if it can only differentiate by means of execution deductions and difficulty value. 

Komova is the best gymnast in the world, and has been for the past two years.  She is not always the best competitor, but then the judges make too many mistakes.  Hopefully, in 2013 they will finally get it right at the third time of asking, and beyond.

During her Jaeger somersault on bars

Concentrated on the bars

In the middle of a side somersault on beam

A tricky turn on floor, toe point despite the heavy strapping

In full flight, at the height of effort, twisting over the vault

A simple pose becomes a work of art

Chalk flies as Komova catches the bar

At full stretch, beyond 90 degrees

Those troublesome feet and ankles ... 2011

Another shot of the side somersault

At full stretch ... Viktoria Komova

 You can view more fantastic pictures of the gymnasts at the RIA Novosti Media Gallery.

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Viktoria Komova picture gallery

Things are a little quiet at the moment, though I do expect to update with a couple of interesting features in the coming week or so.  In the meantime, enjoy this picture gallery of Olympic all around silver medallist Viktoria Komova. 

Viktoria Komova, September 2012

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