Viktoria Komova, a gymnast from Voronezh, two-time 2012 Olympic silver medalist, multiple World and European champion, will miss the Olympics because of an injury. Viktoria spoke with a RIA Voronezh correspondent about coming to terms with her circumstances, what treatments she's having and how she'll be rooting for her friends.
One of the best gymnasts in the world misses the main event of the quadrennium. How did you make the difficult decision not to go?
It was 4 weeks before the Olympics and I realized that I can't do anything. There was constant pain in my back and it blocked all emotions and feelings. I was so afraid of training, you never know what kind of strain you're going to be under, but I went on. I wanted to be honest, I went to the coaches and said that I didn't want to fail anyone or be deceitful, I had no right to go to the Olympics, perform poorly and let the team down. They asked if there really wasn't anything I could do. When I told everyone about it, I wasn't even crying, there were no more tears. I was just tired of the pain.
How long have you had this pain?
Almost a year, I've had time to get used to it. Pain medication didn't help. You can't get out of the bed in the morning, can't bend over properly, can't sit for too long. Feeling utterly helpless. We tried everything, nothing worked.
In Germany you were diagnosed with a stress fracture of the fifth vertebra, what did the Russian doctors say before that?
They took a lot of images of my back and said it was a protrusion (degeneration of the intervertebral discs - RIA Voronezh)*, that it was nothing serious, that we needed to reduce inflammation. I had physiotherapy, acupuncture, massage, extraction (NOTE: I don't know what she means, maybe cupping or medical leeches), injections, pills. I was treated with methods of Chinese medicine at our training base in Krugloye. But as time passed, the pain didn't go away and I lost hope.
Stress fracture - is it an old injury that came back, or newly acquired?
This change in the vertebrae occurs when the same place is under constant stress. The vertebrae had two fractures that prevented me from working at full strength. When I left the training base, my back hurt badly and we decided to go to Germany, where I had been treated before. I brought the medical images with me and the doctors told me right away that I don't have any protrusions and gave the diagnosis.
How is this treated?
It is necessary to remove the load, take medicine and do physiotherapy. After three months, I will go back back to Germany to have control images taken. If everything looks normal, I hope to return to the sport. Now it's better to do spinning, massage, sit-ups and a few back exercises recommended by the German doctors. I think a lot about what I'm going to do next if the treatment doesn't work. Recovering from injuries is always difficult, you have to go through a lot, but I'm ready.
After successful 2012 Olympics in London, you had a streak of bad luck in your career: frequent injuries, meningitis, fractures, back pain. What do you think caused these setbacks?
Maybe it was a reaction to the strain. Although under no strain, I just walked, sprained my ankle and broke it! The one I had surgery on. A fateful coincidence!
We are actively discussing the topic of doping. How were you controlled before the 2012 Olympics, and in the big competitions prior to that?
Samples for doping control were taken of me after every competition since 2010, before the Olympics Games and even during the Olympics Games. In London we were constantly chased for tests, after the competition random samples were taken. It was all serious, but now, I think the control will be even stricter.
You are not going to go to Rio as a tourist. What is it like to root for your team on TV?
I text with all the girls in our team. I did want to go to Brazil as a tourist, but did not dare because of the stress. When you sit in the stands and can't help your team, it's so nerve-wracking. I find it easier to compete than watch others compete. I will watch the Olympics on TV at home, cheer for the girls, and my hometown girl Angelina Melnikova. Voronezh gymnastics school has always lived up to its reputation.
Do the Olympics feel different than World Championships?
Definitely! It is completely different. Although some of the competitors are the same, at the Olympics the crowd was so loud, that even when we girls were standing next to each and yelling at each other's ears, we couldn't hear what the other was saying. The crown was shouting, clapping their hands.
And how does the champion Komova spend her time now?
Undergo treatments, talk to friends. When I'm injured, I get to make up for the lack of communication that went on for years. Now we go to the trampoline center where my friend works.
Anything to do around the house?
I live away from my parents, so I do everything myself. I recently cooked a creamy soup with cheese and mushrooms. In general my favorite dish is chicken and pasta.
So it should be easy to gain a couple of kilograms?
Already gained!
How does Viktoria Komova see herself in 10 years?
I live one day at a time. Well, maybe I could coach. We communicate with the little girls on the carpet, they know me and ask if they are doing well with this or that exercise. They say to me: "I learned it today. Look!" I am happy for them, just a while ago I was the same.
And Viktoria Komova has two gymnastics elements of her own...
Yes, they are called "Komova transitions". No one had done them before me.
Viktoria, if you had a magic wand, what would you wish?
I want to be healthy!*NOTE: I think she means a herniated disc
She has gone through a lot of pain, it's terrible. Such a beautiful gymnasts with so much bad luck. And just when I cheered up when she was talking about how nice it's to be home with her friends, the last question! Her answer really got me. You don't really appreciate health until you've lost it - I can almost guarantee you that 99.9% of healthy people would never even think of wasting any wishes on keeping their health. Not when there's love, riches etc. to wish for.
AND THE USUAL DISCLAIMER: my Russian is very bad and English is not my native language, so this is not a proper translation, nowhere close. Read it with caution.
warning--------------a personal rant to follow--------------warning
About the Russian doctors who couldn't make the right diagnosis.... You'd think that the gymnasts would get to go to the best sports doctors in the country. But let me tell you something, I worked at an orthopedic surgical ward (not in Russia), and 1/3 of the patients were Russians. Why? Because they either had problems that the doctors in Russia didn't know how to fix (e.g. scoliosis, anything to do with the back really, we had a lot of patients similar to Vika, they came in with their X-rays and MRIs, but had still been misdiagnosed in Russia), or because the doctors in Russia had operated on them and fucked it up completely and they were here to get damage control (one young person had a torn ligament in their knee, had it fixed in Russia, but now had to get his knee replaced), or they knew to avoid going to the doctor in Russia in the first place (no rich Russian gets surgery in Russia).
If you're wondering what the hell is going on in their med schools, it's corruption. If you have the money, you can buy a medical degree there.
And now I feel bad after that rant. I'm sure there are plenty of med students working their asses off in Russia. And doctors who know what they're doing. But there are also A LOT of the ones who don't.
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