Lee Ann Gschwind posted a nice profile on Universal Sports:
from Aug 2010
With her fluidity, form, and old school Soviet style, Komova has drawn comparisons to a young Nastia Liukin. And while she’s not yet as polished as Liukin was when she won Olympic all-around gold in Beijing, Komova -with two years to go until London – is already more powerful.
Like Liukin, Komova is the daughter of former Soviet gymnasts. She too was a shoo-in to start the sport: as a toddler, she spent most of her time hanging around the gym. Komova’s mother, Vera Kolesnikova, never had the chance to compete at an Olympics, but scored a big win at the 1986 Goodwill Games, defeating teammates Yelena Shushunova and Oksana Omelianchik, then the reigning co-world champions, for the all-around title. (Shushunova, of course, would go on to win Olympic gold in 1988.) …
read more – Gymnast to Know: Viktoria Komova
The article questions current FIG age restrictions:
… Designed to “protect the athletes,” the rules instead prevent many talented gymnasts from winning major titles. (If they are cutting back their training time, competition schedules or difficulty levels because of the rules, it’s certainly not evident.)
The age restrictions also make 2010 something of a no-man’s land on the gymnastics calendar. Many of the likely stars of the London Games aren’t yet old enough to compete at the World Championships.
At least Komova and Wieber will be eligible to compete at 2011 Worlds; gymnasts born in 1996 won’t even get that chance. A loophole that allowed 15-year-olds to compete at Worlds in a pre-Olympic year – without which Shawn Johnson would not have won the 2007 world title – has been eliminated this quadrennium. …
Leave a comment if you have an opinion on that. I’m hearing about 90% of people in favour of dropping the age restrictions completely. Age can’t be scientifically tested. And the argument that older gymnasts are safer than younger doing high difficulty gymnastics, specious.
(via DEFYING GRAVITY)
Gymnastics Coaching.com 