New Viktoria Komova edit.
She really was the last of a #gymnastics breed.
http://youtu.be/DRRb_r4SP48
Gymnastics has lost some of its appeal over the past few years, whilst Russian athletes have been out of competition. This might be an unpopular opinion, but it reflects the reality of international gymnastics without around a quarter of its leading protagonists. The international competitive field has not raised its performance in the absence of Russia's leadership; gymnasts from the top ten or fifteen have floated upwards in the ranks to fill gaps in the medal placements, and we see mediocre performances gaining gold, silver and bronze medals. Gymnastics has lost some of its imagination and vision without Russian athletes. This doesn't detract from the efforts of the world's best gymnasts. Gymnastics quite simply needs the special abilities of Russian athletes to provide competition for our international contenders and drive the sport to ever greater things. In particular, artistry has been almost entirely lost without Russian athletes to provide a good e...
2 people now have queried the use of the past tense in this blog.
ReplyDeleteThe competition performances shown in this edit WERE in the past - Vika has not performed internationally since the 2012 Olympics as an all arounder, and the performances she has shown since have been severely diminished.
There is no one like her in international competition today. Not even she can live up to her past standards ... For now.
Fair enough. I saw the past tense and I thought you had knowledge that she had retired. I couldn't find any announcement anywhere else so I thought I would ask.
DeleteIt always surprises me when gymnasts retire young. They will never know how good they can be unless they keep going. Think of gymnasts like Alicia Sacramone, Beth Tweddle, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Jessica Lopez...they all improved as they got older. Viktoria Komova has more to show--it's never over until it's over.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but she will never overcome her disappointments. She is just too fragile, both physically and mentally. To think that she got AA silver in both W11 and O12 and then went to batch almost all or all of her routines (not accounting her usual errors in TF), when gymnasts like Silivas had similar disturbing disappointments in AA and then went back to win almost all EF Gold medals, shows how weak she is.
ReplyDeleteMustafina >> Komova.
Don't use the word 'weak' when referring to elite gymnasts - it is self evidently untrue.
DeleteThe circumstances of the 1988 and 2012 Okympics were different. The equipment has changed, and the competition for EF includes specialists. Vika's team competed with her for EF places, meaning she didn't qualify to as many EF as did Silivas.
There will always be arguments about the final placements in 2011 and 2012 - we will not revise them here. But Vika WON silver all around in both these competitions,including perhaps the best floor routine of the last 15 years in a combination of artistry and acro. That is most certainly NOT WEAK by any measure.
I trust you will continue to take the spinach for breakfast.
I agree that weak is not the appropriate word. But I believe she does lack a fighting spirit. That was evident in the first of the 4 apparatus in all-around at London 2012. Douglas was fighting hard to stay in bounds and avoid having to take an extra step on her vault. She was tinting her body away from the out of bounds line, fighting with everything she had. On the other spectrum was Komova who took one step out of bounds to balance herself after just barely squeezing the last 1/2 turn around on her vault. Immediately her shoulders drop, she takes two more steps now completely off the mats. I instantly thought after just the first event in this all-around that the American wanted the title more than the Russian. It felt to me that Komova believed she deserved to win the title rather than going out and battling to earn the title. But there is no doubt that she is an extremely beautiful gymnast.
DeleteI will add that Komova did make up for her lack of fight on her vault by fighting hard for every tenth of a point on bars, beam and floor. I will also add that Douglas was over-scored on bars and beam a little bit, but they were also her best performances that week compared with quals and team final. Now Komova's floor was so beautiful to watch and she was awarded the highest E score in all-around of 9.1, she likely deserved a little bit better but we never see floor judges do much better than an E score of 9.1.
DeleteOhh you all are so boring with those sadly comments about Mustafina and Komova!!Dammit!!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all : Komova is Komova,Mustafina is Mustafina!!That is really easy to get,I think!!
Then ~ you talk about spirit of fighting,but,who knows,which spirit of fighting have you,to say and blame Komova s once!
I would have been scared,really scared,if I have had to face all injuries that she had,or just the problems of Sacramone or other gymnasts!You have to live with pain on your body,sacrifices,but with injuries...?Are you really so sure to talk about injuries&surgery & post treatments...?No,I don t think so.
Another point : Do you remember everytime,you are going to post such shamed comments and thoughts,that we are talking about girls with 16 - 20 age?Who knows!!
Honestly, her AA O2012 FX routine is overrated. I do believe it was underscored and should have been barely enough to beat Douglas, but to put it as "the best floor routine of the last 15 years" is certainly an exaggeration. Her Memmel is not really completed, her triple twist is barely completed, two of the tumbles are basic D elements and her coreo is not very complex -- yes, her lines are beautiful -- but compare her coreo to Ksenia's or Mustafina's in the same olympics and you will see what I mean. Do you really claim her routine was better than Ksenia's W2011 or Cheng Fei's O2004 or Pavlova's O2008 routine? No.
ReplyDeleteAlso, be aware that when I say 'weak' I mean weak compared to her competitors (top world gymnasts), not with the general population. Komova does not bring the blend between talent and consistency that is required to be one of the very greats:
ReplyDeleteAmericans: very consistent but little talent
Most Russians: talented but inconsistent (Pavlova, Afanasyeva, Dudnik, Komova and so many others)
The Greats: talented AND consistent (Mustafina, Podkopayeva, Silivas, Boginskaya)
So Komova is not one of the greats, sorry.
And then there are the ones who are neither consistent nor talented (the likes of Gabby Douglas), but who were just very lucky on a specific day.
ReplyDeleteGabby Douglas isn't talented to you? Yes, it's sad that Komova lost, but saying that Gabby Douglas is not talented is just wrong. She's on better shape now than Komova too.
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