It’s not Russian gymnastics if there’s no drama.
Today, Valentina Rodionenko announced the senior WAG team for Euros and explained that one of the reasons for not selecting Viktoria Komova was her recurrent back pain.
Well, Viktoria Komova disagrees with that assessment. She commented on the post that cited Rodionenko’s statement in a Russian Gymnastics discussion group on Vkontakte.com (Russian social network):
“I’m wondering what back pain they discovered??”
When another user asked whether she has any back pain, Komova said: “No. I’m working, like everyone else”.
She was then asked what happened with the selection as Komova was originally expected to be a shoe-in for the Euros team, she replied: “Don’t ask me about anything. I’m shocked now because this whole camp I was preparing like everyone else, standing on the team, for me, it’s also a SHOCK now!!”
Whatever reasons the coaching staff had for not selecting Komova (and those could be perfectly valid reasons for all we know), they certainly didn’t do a very good job explaining their reasons to the gymnasts.
Wow, I can’t even begin…. I saw her posts and couldn’t believe that her results from BOTH Cup of Russia and Nationals were disregarded?? Besides Melnikova, she was the ONLY one to finish top 3 in both competitions! WTF? What’s the point of medaling in the AA in those competitions then? The training meets are obviously way more important…..
She wasn’t going to euros for AA (which were lucky medals anyways with uncompetitive scores). She was told after Nats to prepare BB and UB and she fell on those at nats and the cup and verification. Thats why she was discarded.
She finished 3rd AA at both of her competitions so I don’t understand.
Yes she was going for AA. There’s no AA competition, but there is a team competition, and she provided valuable scores on vault and floor in addition to bars and beam. Saying that she’s not going because of injury is ridiculous considering they’re taking Perebinsova who hasn’t been healthy since turning senior and Akhaimova who has been injured all year.
I think VRod said she had back pain to not tarnish Vika’s reputation. In media, she is still the darling girl robbed of a world and Olympic title. What little they know of her after that is that she has come by multiple misfortunes through injury. I think Valentina was hoping to spare her feelings by telling the media one thing so that Vika didn’t have to hear that the reason she’s not going is because she was irrelevant to the team’s success, or something like that. VRod gave two interviews and in one she is defensive of Vika and the other she is blaming Vika’s lackluster verification for her exclusion from the team. So I think she lied, but she did it with good intentions- to spare Vika’s feelings- not ever presuming that Vika would speak up about it.Because I’m sure VRod’s used this excuse before for many gymnasts and we’ve been none the wiser…
I think she would contribute highly to the TEAM though….Yes, there’s no AA but to take Perebinosova over Komova, for example?? and Alexeeva didn’t win any gold medals or even compete at COR. Plus, Komova didn’t fall off bars at either competition in the EF or AA if I recall. She even improved a little in COR on bars/vault….
My guess is that she bombed more than one control meet and the other two must have done better suddenly…. Who knows.
Well im not surprised she’s not in euros bcuz first of all her routines aren’t competitive at all. She doesnt even hit one connection on bb.On fx, its better not to say. She cant upgrade or cant fully hit the routines she have now. She was a bum at russian cup. Yes im a russian an saying this all. For me ilyankova deserves to go
Yeah, what is the reason for leaving Ilyankova off the team? Has Valentina explained/made stuff up about her?
Why must Valentina lie about non-existent injuries? She should just say, “based on internal control competitions, the chosen gymnasts will give us the highest scores.” Based on the inconsistent Russian performances (especially on balance beam), no one would question Valentina’s judgment about team selection. Besides Melnikova, none of the gymnasts are consistent on any apparatus.
I’m glad Alexeeva is being given the chance to compete for Russia. She was a great gymnast without a country for a while.