McKayla Maroney

The Artistic Gymnastics Federation of Russia released an interview with Viktoria Komova and Yelfimov.

Viktoria Komova: “There’s no need to recall the past, because you have to think about the future”

If they had handed out medals for bravery at the last World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics along with the awards, Viktoria Komova would have certainly got one for the Russian team. Suspect judging caused Vika to lose the fight for the All-Around crown to American Jordyn Wieber by just 0.033 points. Not every experienced gymnast can take such a “slap in the face” and what can you say about a 16-year old debutante in her first worlds?

But after crying on her mother’s shoulder, our little girl (Komova is just 143 cm tall and weighs a mere 31 kilos), found the strength inside herself to bring the Russian national team, which is sponsored by VTB Bank, its first gold medal of the competition — for her performance on uneven bars. In total, the tournament n Tokyo brought Viktoria three medals — one gold and two silvers. Still, despite this achievement, Vika and her personal coach Gennadiy Yelfimov have something to say about fate…

— Are you satisfied with your performance despite “only getting” silver in the All-Around?

Gennadiy Yelfimov: Of course. Vika did very well and handled her nerves and emotions. It’s too bad that the gold she deserved in the All-Around went to Jordyn Wieber for reasons beyond our control, but that’s the way it went. We just have to roll up our sleeves and work even harder. Negative experience is also helpful.

Viktoria Komova: Of course there was a bitter aftertaste. But you can’t change the past; you have to look ahead to the future. I pushed all the dumb thoughts out of my head. In the end, it would have been much worse for it to have happened at the Olympic Games. I am actually happy with my performance. I was able to do practically 100 per cent of my programme. Now we have to make sure we don’t stand in place, but move farther.

— Enough has already been said about the judging at the last world championships; Russian team head coach Andrey Rodionenko even said it was outrageous. Do you think the judging was biased? Or just unprofessional?

Yelfimov: Maybe a bit of both. Sure, they “helped” the Americans. But it’s something else that is surprising — why do they trust judges “from Zanzibar” with the scoring when there were more competent judges watching from the stands?

Viktoria Komova: it was probably more un-objective. After the All-Around, our coaches counted 0.7 points overall that went in favour of Wieber.

— Could you have performed even better?

Viktoria Komova: Of course, I was simply missing the time to put together more complex routines. Two more weeks in the gym and my execution would have been much better…

Yelfimov: And don’t forget that Vika only began full training on 15 June. In other words, we only had three months to hone routines — obviously that’s not enough.

— Does the leg injury still bother you?

Komova: No. I don’t feel any pain, my leg is fine now.

Yelfimov: Don’t jinx yourself! Vika seems to not be complaining.

— If Vika’s name on the international circuit was bigger, for example, like World All-Around Champion Aliya Mustafina, would the judges have looked at her differently?

Yelfimov: Probably. Although Mustafina became world champion in her debut year, so it’s hard to say.

— Where besides bars, which got you gold, can you improve your routines?

Yelfimov: On all of them without exception. Vika’s gold on bars can be explained very easily — work on bars is work on your arms, so her routine did not suffer from the leg injury at all really. At the same time, vaulting and dancing on beam after a heel injury and surgery is much harder. And so these routines were simplified and had low difficulty scores. And we went easy on them in training as well.

Komova: Beam, vault and floor exercise obviously have to be improved and have difficulty added. And I’ve got more in store for bars, too, by the way.

— Why did Vika choose not to compete floor on the final day of competition?

Yelfimov: That was a decision made by the coaching staff. Vika was very tired by then and there was not a lot of hope for a good result, given how “strangely” the judges had been scoring her. So, the decision was made to give Kseniya Afanasyeva the chance to compete and she took great advantage of it, winning gold.

— Will your main rivals at the Olympic Games in London be Jordyn Wieber and Aliya Mustafina? Can any of the Chinese or Romanians get into the mix?

Yelfimov: I think that Jordyn and Aliya — and Vika — will be the main competitors for the all-around title in next year’s Olympics.

Komova: The Chinese have some pretty strong all-arounders, but my main rivals probably really will be Jordyn and Aliya. The Americans conquer with their power and energy, but not in execution. Aliya is a completely different gymnast. She is artistic and has excellent technique.

— Can our women’s team with Aliya Mustafina, Vika Komova and European All-Around Champion Anna Dementyeva be called the favourites going into the Games?

Yelfimov: I’m not going to make any predictions, but the team really should be very strong if we don’t have injuries.

Komova: I think so. With Aliya, we can be the best in the world!

— And in the overall team competition, together with the men’s team, can you compete with the Chinese and the Americans?

Yelfimov: Our men were sixth at worlds last year in Holland, and fourth in Tokyo. So, the progress is evident. There are some young and ambitious guys on the team. They gained experience at this worlds, and I hope that they can pull though in London. In short — there is a chance.

Komova: It’s very possible. Our men’s team, with the exception of Anton Golotsutskov and Konstantin Pluzhnikov, has promising new guys who are strong enough to fight with the Americans and Chinese.