Viktoria Komova

Viktoria Aleksandrovna Komova (Russian: Виктория Александровна Комова; born 30 January 1995) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won silver medals in the all-around and team events at the 2012 Olympics. She is also the 2011 world uneven bars champion and all-around silver medalist, and the 2015 co-world champion on uneven bars. At the junior level, she was the 2010 Youth Olympics all-around champion, uneven bars champion, vault champion, and floor exercise bronze medalist.

Komova was born in Voronezh, Russia, to Vera Kolesnikova and Alexander Komov. Her mother is the 1986 Goodwill Games all-around champion, and her father was also a gymnast. She has an older brother, Alexander, who is nicknamed Sasha.

Komova began gymnastics when she was four years old. Her mother coached her for her first three years in the sport. When she was seven, Gennady Yelfimov became her coach. "Now, gymnastics is my life," Komova said in 2010. "I can't imagine my life without it."

2010

Komova with President Dmitry Medvedev and medalists of the Russian team that participated in the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics on 30 August 2010.

At the end of April, Komova competed at the 2010 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She contributed an all-around score of 57.050 toward the Russian team's first-place finish. Individually, she won the all-around final with a total score of 58.375. In event finals, she placed first on vault, scoring 14.425, and second on balance beam, scoring 14.625.

In August, Komova competed at the Youth Olympics Games in Singapore. Before the competition, she said: "It is a big responsibility being the only Russian gymnast competing. There is a lot of pressure on my shoulders because I won the European Junior Championships. I hope I will earn a medal either in the all-around or on an apparatus, and hopefully it will be gold.” She won the all-around competition with a total score of 61.250. In event finals, she placed first on vault, scoring 15.312; first on uneven bars, scoring 14.525; seventh on balance beam, scoring 12.000; and third on floor, scoring 14.175.

In November, Komova competed at the "Freddy Cup" Italian Grand Prix in Cagliari, Sardinia. She placed first on uneven bars, scoring 15.500, and second on balance beam, scoring 14.600.

In December, Komova sprained her ankle while walking through the gym. At the end of the year, she told International Gymnast Magazine, "The best moment in 2010 was my birthday present, a shih tzu puppy (named Kutya). And, of course, I have very bright and cheerful memories of my performances at the European Championships and the first Youth Olympic Games. New Year's Eve for us is a family holiday, and we always celebrate at home. Since we all love pizza, and my mom makes it very tasty, we help her prepare it along with other food for the New Year — all kinds of salads, meat dishes, side dishes. At midnight, it's our tradition to pop open the champagne, wish each other 'Happy New Year,' give presents, and watch the fireworks, which are organized in each city. Then we go out and get together with the neighbors for more fireworks and various amusements. In the New Year, I really want to quickly recover from my injury and prepare for the Russian Championships, to perform successfully at the European and World Championships, as well as pass my school exams."

2011

In February, Komova re-injured her ankle at the Russian Championships. In May, she had arthroscopic surgery on her right ankle at the Sporthopaedicum Clinic in Germany to tighten the loose ligaments in her ankle. She resumed training in July.

In August, Komova competed at the Russian Cup in Yekaterinburg. She placed second in the all-around competition with a total score of 58.875. In event finals, she placed first on uneven bars, scoring 15.875, and first on balance beam, scoring 15.525.

In September, she competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium. She placed first on uneven bars with a score of 15.650.

Later in September, Komova competed at the Dinamo Cup in Penza, Russia. She won the all-around competition with a total of 58.350. In event finals, she placed first on uneven bars, scoring 15.667; first on balance beam, scoring 15.134; and fifth on floor, scoring 13.567.

In October, Komova competed at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. She contributed an all-around score of 58.265 toward the Russian team's second-place finish. In the all-around final, she placed second with a score of 59.349. She said afterward: "My vault was not as fully ready as it should have been. On beam, I had mistakes, and my bars were not very well done. My floor routine was mediocre. Today on a beam I did not make some connections, therefore, that's why the lower score. So (this ranking is) deserved. But the Olympics are ahead." In event finals, she placed first on uneven bars, scoring 15.500, and eighth on balance beam, scoring 13.766.

2012

In May, Komova competed at the European Championships in Brussels, Belgium. She contributed scores of 15.508 on uneven bars and 14.916 on balance beam toward the Russian team's second-place finish. In event finals, she placed first on uneven bars with a score of 15.666 and sixth on balance beam with a score of 13.100

In June, Komova competed at the Russian Cup in Penza. She won the all-around competition with a score of 60.767. In event finals, she placed third on uneven bars, scoring 15.100; first on balance beam, scoring 15.325; and second on floor, scoring 14.300.

London Olympics

Komova with her silver medal after the individual all-around final at the 2012 Olympics in London.

At the end of July, Komova competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She qualified in first place for the all-around final with a score of 60.632, third for the uneven bars final with a score of 15.833, and second for the balance beam final with a score of 15.266. In the team final, she contributed scores of 15.833 on vault, 15.766 on uneven bars, and 15.033 on balance beam toward the Russian team's second-place finish. In the all-around final, she placed second with scores of 15.466 on vault, 15.966 on the uneven bars, 15.441 on the balance beam, and 15.100 on the floor exercise, giving her a total of 61.973. In an interview after the competition, Komova said: "I am proud about what I’ve done today, although I am a bit disappointed because I wanted to win the gold. I think I did well. The vault was not very successful, but overall I did well." In the uneven bars final, she placed fifth with a score of 15.666. In the balance beam final, she placed eighth with a score of 13.166. After the event finals, she said: "I was not very lucky at these Olympics. I failed them 100 percent. I don't know if I will continue sports. I will go back home, take some time off, and think through the situation. My parents say everything is okay, but I don't feel that."

2013

Komova took a break from competition to rest a back injury. She said in an interview with International Gymnast Magazine: "I haven't disappeared. I still train at Round Lake. In competition, I have a temporary break. Maybe I'll come back for the University Games in Kazan, but that will depend on being accepted to university. In the summer, I'll finish school, and I have to apply. If I don't go to the University Games, I will go a little later to a World Cup, this is for sure. Also, competing at the World Championships in September is definitely not out of the question, of course!" In late August, she was diagnosed with viral meningitis and was unable to compete at the World Championships. Later in the year, she planned to compete but backed out because of a lack of preparation.

2014

Komova made her return to competition at the 2014 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Penza in April. She placed 47th in the senior all-around with a total score of 40.767, not competing on floor exercise. In the team final, Komova contributed scores of 14.467 on vault and 15.333 on uneven bars toward the Central Federal District region's first-place finish. In the senior uneven bars final, she placed eighth with a score of 11.467 after falling twice. She also performed an exhibition on balance beam, earning a score of 14.367.

After her performance at the Russian Championships, she was named to the team for the 30th European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Komova was slated to compete on two apparatuses, bars and beam. Only days afterward, she was removed from the roster and slated to undergo surgery in Germany on her right ankle. Ekaterina Kramarenko was called in to replace Komova, but she withdrew shortly after because of illness. Anna Rodionova was selected to replace Kramarenko. Head coach Andrei Rodionenko said that, despite her injury, Komova had a good shot to make the Worlds team because of her experience. However, on September 19, she was taken out of Worlds contention because of an ankle injury.

After her surgery in Germany, Komova returned to Russia, where she was assigned to the Gymnastics Gala in Mexico. There, she competed watered-down beam and floor routines. She returned to the all-around at a small Hungarian meet. Even though she had watered-down routines on every apparatus except for the uneven bars, she performed cleanly and won the competition. In December, she was slated to compete at the Voronin Cup alongside her 2012 Olympic teammates Ksenia Afanasyeva and Anastasia Grishina, both of whom were recovering from injuries of their own.

2015

In June, Komova made her return to major international competition at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. Competing on a three-person team with Aliya Mustafina and Seda Tutkhalyan, she won the team gold medal. Individually, she had an all-around score of 56.965, third-highest of the competition. However, because the two higher scores were from her own teammates, she did not qualify into the individual all-around final, which is limited to only one gymnast per country in this particular competition.

In September, Komova competed at the Russian Cup, a qualifying meet for the World Championship team. Competing on bars and beam, she helped earn a silver medal for the Central Federal District team. However, her performance in the team qualification and final and in the all-around final was inconsistent, and she did not qualify to event finals. She was allowed to perform an exhibition routine during the uneven bars final, earning a 15.300, unofficially the highest score.

After the Russian Cup, she was named to the provisional team for the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, as a specialist on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam because her floor exercise was not ready for the all-around competition. After advancing to the bars final, she scored a 15.366, which put her in a four-way tie for first place with countrywoman Daria Spiridonova, Fan Yilin of China, and Madison Kocian of the United States.

2016

Despite being named to the Olympic team with 2012 Olympic teammates Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka and Ksenia Afanasyeva, she withdrew herself from Rio contention as a result of severe back pain. It is unclear whether or not she will continue in the sport. In an interview preceding the 2016 Russian Cup, Komova announced that she would head to Munich in late July. She said that if the doctors recommended she stop gymnastics, she would quit. If not, she would continue her elite career. Komova revealed that the results of an analysis in Munich revealed a stress fracture of her fifth vertebrate. She said that she would undergo six months of rest followed by a second analysis of her back to decide if she can compete again. In September she posted a picture of herself on her Instagram account training again.