In an interview with TASS, the 2015 world uneven bars champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Viktoria Komova shared her plans to officially return for this year’s Voronin Cup in December, the first step as she hopes to fight for spots on next year’s world and European championship teams.
“The main thing that guided me when coming back to the sport was a desire to understand if I could return to my previous level after such a long break,” said Komova, who hasn’t competed in two years.
After winning one of four gold medals on bars in Glasgow, Komova, now 22, also won the beam title at the Toyota International that December and planned on going right through to Rio. Early in 2016, Valentina Rodionenko even went as far as to preliminarily name Komova to the Olympic team, but severe back pain forced her to take a step back from her plans.
Komova went to see a doctor in Munich, who told her she had a stress fracture that required six months of rest before she could begin seriously training. She returned to Round Lake this past May, has been posting the occasional training videos and updates on Instagram, and will perform in Alexei Nemov’s Legends of Sports gala this weekend, which will also include Aliya Musatfina, who gave birth to a daughter in June.
She’s clearly super serious about the comeback. “My long-term goals are to become European or world champion,” she told TASS. “But you never know how your body will react to this level of stress, or whether you’ll develop new injuries. Right now, everything is going well, I’m not forcing anything, and I’m slowly gaining back my form.”
At the Voronin Cup, Komova plans on competing all four events, though likely not at full difficulty. In the spring, she’ll have the Russian Championships on her schedule, and Euros will be the first big international comeback goal.
“It’s hard to say how much of my gymnastics is competitive at the world level right now,” she said. “I haven’t been training long, and I’m trying to bring back my old combinations. In principle, they’re still competitive today, but I still need to work on them. I think I’m about halfway there, and I’m currently working my hardest to get to a hundred percent.”
She won’t be able to get everything back, though she still hopes to return to a high level of difficulty by making a few adjustments. “On beam, I had to change some skills and combinations because my back makes certain elements impossible to perform.”
You can get a small glimpse of Komova looking beautiful on bars in this video from the Russian federation’s Instagram account. Her swing, lines, and form look as breathtaking as ever, and if she can stay healthy, Komova should have no problem returning to the top of Russia’s charts, even with their current level of intense depth on bars.
Article by Lauren Hopkins
The Gymternet 
I absolutely love Komova, and if she was to make a successful come back, I would be SO HAPPY.
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Komova has been done since 2012 — stop with delusional hopes and embrace Eremina.
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She won a gold medal in 2015 worlds….
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Yeah, but there is always this issue of whether her body will hold together physically. She hasn’t seemed to be the most hardy physically, especially post-2012. That’s where my biggest skepticism comes from regarding Vika. But maybe I’m overreading her injury/physical past.
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Well obviously the fact that the Russian team management did not diagnose the double spinal fracture and instead declared her back pains in 2015-16 as “nothing serious”, and had her hard training for Rio, did nothing to help. I’m not sure that the meningitis was really avoidable though
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your 500 fake accounts (all with the same emailadress but different fake-russian-names) make me seriously mad! you’re only talking rubbish and I wish Lauren would block ya.
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I’ve tried! For literally a year.
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I agree. If Russia doesn’t develop their young talent and instead holds out hope for Komova, they will go the way of Romania.
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Don’t forget that Eremina, 16, won 2 medals at the last WC (and she could have won the AA gold without a big and unusual mistake on UB). And Klimenko, 13, won 3 gold medals and one silver at the last EYOF. Melnikova was injuried at the last WC, but she is the reigning European champion on FX. If you consider the 10 best UB gymnasts of the world, there are (at least) 4 young Russians (16 or 17 years old), and at the last Junior International, Simakova, 15, won the gold on vault ! You can”t find any Romanian young gymnasts and there are around 10 gymnasts between 13 and 17 who are very competitive on the world stage. It’s a nonsense to compare Russia and Romania.
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Didn’t Ponor take a similar break? Skipped 2008 Olympics and returned in 2012? My only fear here is that Russia suddenly appears to have ‘depth’ and Komova might not be able to just walk onto the team. I really want to see her back on the all-around podium though.
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A team of Komova, Mustafina, and Eremina would be very formidable, even for the USA (though not if USA has Biles).
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In 2012, you have the peak of Komova and Mustafina but they still can’t beat USA. Now you have a much older Komova and Mustafina just coming back from being preggy, i don’t think they are that formidable.
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They should go with erimina and melnikova….. new talents… need to get some consistency in them… they are def capable of winning worlds medals
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I mean in theory yes, but the Russians tend to be weak mentally. The US hasn’t had a TF fall since 2010, so even while the USA tends to have an advantage in scoring potential, they are also the better mental competitors. And yes, a Mustafina, Komova, Eremina, Melnikova,Paseka team would be a great threat, a team of Biles, Smith, O’Keefe, Malabuyo, and Perea/Mccusker would have the upperhand.
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She needs to know she gave it all , no matter the result . Those ballet fundamentals such as posture , neckline & thar face will keep her looking beautiful all thru her life . In the end gym will be a memory – hopefully mostly pleasant .
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She is a gorgeous gymnast. My fear is that Russia won’t invest in their future.
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But they do ! Eremina and Melnikova are just wonderful gymnasts, and Klimenko, Astafeva, Perebinosova, Simakova, Ilyankova are also. Nothing similar with Romanian situation. For Komova and Mustafina, it’s a real challenge to come back : not sure they will get a spot in the team.
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This thread was about Vika nor Romania or 2012 . Can gym fans never move on ?
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The irony of you asking that question on a post about another Komova comeback is palpable.
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Haha yes but I am mainly on about the negativity . I think going forward everyone should think the best . Why not ?
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Vika is unquestionably one of the prettiest gymnasts to watch. The ballet and over technique is just wonderful! I wish her nothing but the best and would love to see her and next year’s Euros and Worlds! 😀
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Sadly I think komova has gone past her peak…given all her injuries etc, gabby douglas prob has a better chance of coming back than her…
Musty is just another alien.. completely different breed… cant even compare vika and musty…. you can maybe put raisman and musty sort of in the same breed that I wont be surprised if both come back in 2020 and medal. .. but just cant see vika doing that
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Her pak salto is so beautiful !
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It’s nice and fun to see the Russian MAG and WAG athletes having fun and supporting each other in this video
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I was never the biggest fan of Komova, in general, (I always preferred the style of Mustafina better), though I absolutely adored her 2011 floor routine!!!!! ❤ However, I'm glad she was able to take a break and rest, and especially to heal up, and I hope that she is smart about her comeback. I will say, I was impressed looking at the picture of her, how healthy she looks (I always felt she was a little too waif-like, especially at London, and I wondered how healthy that was.) If she is able to make the comeback and get up to a super competitive level (i.e. Worlds/Olympics level) good for her, and I would hope that this rest and comeback process gives her some new mental strength, as well. If she is not able to get back up to par for the level she wants to be, I hope that she has the mental toughness and wisdom to be able to accept that. Time will tell how far she'll make it.
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