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 On Monday, IG's John Crumlish visited Brno, Czech Republic, where two-time Olympian Jana Komrskova spoke of her recent World Cup successes and her plans for the rest of the current Olympic cycle. On Monday, IG’s John Crumlish visited Brno, Czech Republic, where two-time Olympian Jana Komrskova (pictured) spoke of her recent World Cup successes and her plans for the rest of the current Olympic cycle. Brno, the Czech Republic’s “second city” behind Prague, stands quietly and proudly as the capital of Moravia and a hub of history, culture and higher learning in its own right. Spilberk Castle, built high on the hills in the 13th century for the Habsburg royal family, lords over the town from the west side. The neo-Gothic Church of St. Peter and Paul juts above town from the south side. Brno’s 800-year history boasts a rich sports tradition, including gymnastics. Several gymnasts who have represented the former Czechoslovakia or the current Czech Republic hail from Brno, and the Sokol Brno I club serves as the home gym for the current Czech women’s team. Sokol Brno’s recent standout gymnasts include two-time Olympian Jana Komrskova, 2008 Olympian Kristyna Palesova (who is recovering from a knee injury) and World Cup medalist Jana Sikulova. Komrskova, the most successful Czech gymnast in recent history, competed at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. She retired before the Beijing 2008 Games, and subsequently came out of retirement to place first on vault at two World Cup meets this fall: the World Cup of Osijek, Croatia, and the DTB Cup in Stuttgart. Komrskova told IG on Tuesday that is glad to be competing again at the international level, and that her success in 2010 might help dictate her plans for the London 2012 Games. “I wanted to finish forever, and now I’m back,” Komrskova said during a pre-workout break at the club’s restaurant. “I can’t say I want to go to London or I don’t want to go to London, but I really want next season to show what I can do. If it’s good I will stay, and if it’s bad I will leave. I never wanted to stay in gymnastics and be an old gymnast (about whom) people would say, ‘Oh, it’s not good like before. She should finish.’” Although Komrskova excels on balance beam and has earned a berth in the all-around final at the Olympics and world championships, she has achieved her best results on vault. Komrskova said she was pleasantly surprised that she won vault in Osijek and Stuttgart, using an easier version of the first of her two vaults. She performed a round-off, half-on, tucked front-half, instead of the piked version she customarily performs. Komrskova said she originally planned to perform the tucked version in qualifications at Osijek only, to secure a place in the finals. “When I do it tucked, they give me 14.1 or 14.2, which I saw in qualifications,” Komrskova said. “I told my coach, ‘I don’t understand why they give me more for this easier vault, so I’ll do it in the final, too.’” After Komrskova won the gold medal in Stuttgart, she asked a judge why her tucked version outscored her piked one. “I told her, ‘I think with the new rule it’s better to do it tuck rather than piked, because they give me more deductions,” Komrskova said. “(The judge) said, ‘You’re probably right, because when you do it piked, we have more chance to make deductions. But when you do it tucked, you do it perfectly and you don’t give us a chance to give you a low score. I thought, ‘It sounds stupid, but I’ll do it and it will work.’ For next year, I don’t know if it would work, but I’ll do my pike.” Komrskova said replacing her current second vault (full-twisting Yurchenko) with a more difficult one is a matter of safety, but she has successfully experimented with a tucked rudi and a double-twisting Yurchenko in her gym’s podium vault set-up. She said she is wary of performing them on the gym’s hard-surface vaulting table, however, since its runway has an undetectable incline and is too close to the wall for her comfort. “The podium has a soft runway, and everything is very empowering and easy for me,” Komrskova said. “But on the hard surface, here and no matter where the competition is, I have a problem running faster and being more prepared. I’m scared – not to do the actual (harder) vault, but for my body. If I hurt myself, it will be the end of my gymnastics, because I can’t imagine being off a year recovering. I don’t want to hurt myself, and that’s why I do these vaults.” Nevertheless, Komrskova said the positive comments she received at both meets, as well as at the world championships in London in October, inspired her for the coming year. “I saw so many old friends and coaches, and they were like, ‘You still look good, you’re in great shape,’” Komrskova said. “That’s fine. That’s what makes me feel I will continue.” Check back here on IG Online for more from the road in Central Europe – including a visit Tuesday with a former Olympic champion who’s now mayor of his Hungarian hometown. And, read an in-depth report of John Crumlish’s Central European travels in the January/February 2010 issue of International Gymnast magazine. Comments (2)
Stela
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... Ahoj Jano, velká gratulace k velkému úspěchu. Jen tak dál. Držím pěsti, ať zdravíčko vydrží. Stela |
JanaFan NOTBieger
said:
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... She needs harder vaults if she wants to win at Worlds. She didn't make event finals and worlds was the weakest it has ever been for vault this year. I love Jana she is an amazing gymnast and one of my faves I just wish she would upgrade so she could compete for a medal |
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