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 ... and 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.
You can view more fantastic pictures of the gymnasts at the RIA Novosti Media Gallery.
Time to revisit a picture gallery posted last year ... and 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 |
.jpg) |
| Those troublesome feet and ankles ... 2011 |
 |
| Another shot of the side somersault |
 |
| At full stretch ... Viktoria Komova |
Hi Queen E. You meant to write you hope the best for Komova in 2014 - 2013 came and went. Love your post.
ReplyDeleteOops :-)
ReplyDeleteSimply beautiful.
ReplyDeletehI could you write a little bit of VIktoria's situation right now, I just love to watch her back!!!!! Thank you very mucho and congratulations for your blog!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Anonimo, thank you for your comment. As far as I know, Viktoria is now back in full training. At the beginning of the year she had her foot in a cast, having broken one of the small bones in her ankle. I think this was a minor re-injury at the site of her former injury ... but it seems she has now recovered and is training OK, so nothing to worry about.
ReplyDeleteShe has grown several inches and put weight on, and after such a long break from training is learning everything from scratch again - but, as she says, her learning is fast as of course they are all things she has done before. I haven't heard any news as to her competitive schedule this year.
I have heard, though, from a fairly reliable source, that Aliya Mustafina wants to compete at Euros in Sofia this spring ... do not know what the implications of that are for the rest of the team. Making it back to full competitive readiness after such a long break will surely take Viktoria longer than a few months, but perhaps I am mistaken.