Jana Komrsková
Encyclopedia
Jana Komrsková is an artistic gymnast
from Czech Republic
, who participated in 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
, also her younger sister Aneta competed in gymnastics, while her older sister Lucie was one of the leading Czech long-jumpers
. Her role model was Olympic champion Svetlana Boginskaya
. In age of 10, she was a member of the Czech national junior team and in 1995 she participated in the European Junior Championships for the first time.
Her progress was very fast, in 1997 she won three titles in the senior national championships, including the all-around title, which belongs to her in following years as well. She shows uneven bars and vault are going to be her strongest apparatuses.
In 1999 Komrsková participated in the Tianjin
World Championships
, where she finished in ninth place in the all-around qualification, but major faults on beam sent her back to 33rd in the all-around final. The goal - qualification for the Olympic Games - was fulfilled only partially, the Czech team finished in 16th place, not qualifying for Sydney, but that let two individual gymnasts to go to Australia.
In the Olympic year, Komrsková recorded her first successes in the Grand Prix (2nd place on vault in Cottbus
behind Russia's Elena Produnova) and finished 9th in the European Championships all-around.
She participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics
together with Kateřina Marešová, but only she managed to qualify for the all-around individual final, finishing in 29th place. She had to fight pain in her forearm after she got infected through her blisters. Immediately after the final she had to undergo a small surgery intervention.
After the Games, Komrsková finished in fourth place on both uneven bars and vault in the World Cup final in Glasgow
.
2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
as one of the vault favorites. She advanced to the final and finished fourth behind top vaulters Svetlana Khorkina
, Oksana Chusovitina
and Andreea Răducan
, losing bronze medal to Raducan by 0.037 pt.
Komrsková continued her career connecting World Cup successes to her bad luck results in the international championships. She was the stand-by for vault final in 2003 World Artistic Championships and for uneven bars final in 2002 European Championships, missing the final by 0.012 pt. Her 11th place in the all-around competition in the 2002 European Championships was her top result in this period. She managed to clinch the only Czech place for the 2004 Summer Olympics
, but she also brought home injured elbow from Anaheim, the host city of the 2003 World Championships, at the end of the year she also broke bones in her foot. Ahead of the Olympic Games, Komrsková thus missed European and national championships because of rehabilitation and training, managing meanwhile to finish her high school studies.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics
, Komrsková finished 32nd in the all-around qualification and was the second alternate for the final as the number of the finalists was reduced from 32 to 24 between 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. As Romania's Oana Ban
withdrew from the final, Komrsková was the best gymnast not to compete in the final. (Australia's Moorhouse replaced her compatriot Monette Russo
).
About her participation in the 2004 Olympics, Komrsková said: "When I was in the Olympic Games before, I was younger and I was a bit overwhelmed. Now it's a normal competition for me. I still think the Olympics is the most important competition for an athlete, but now I am a lot more relaxed about it."
if she was not gymnast. After the 2004 Olympic Games, Komrsková finally decided to end her gymnastics career and to try athletics. Her aim was to compete in pole vault
, following the example of the former Czech gymnast and later pole vault world record holder Daniela Bártová
. Komrsková however did not proceed well, being limited by her elbow injury. She also tried to join her sister Lucie in long jump
, but finally decided to come back to gymnastics.
She had to change her coaches, as both parents already retired from gymnastics coaching, so the national team coach Stanislav Vyzina took care of her in Brno
.
In late 2005 she returned to Czech competitions, but did not feel prepared enough to participate in the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
yet. She also visited her sister's wedding during the championships.
She however soon recorded good results in World Cup events in her strong vault: she won her first ever World Cup final - the B-category World Cup in Maribor
. In 2006 she continued with strong performances in the World Cup (Maribor - 1st vault, 3rd balance beam; Moscow - 2nd vault, Lyon - 2nd vault etc.), but also participated in top international championships. The European Championships took place in Volos
, Greece
and Komrsková finished fourth in the vault final, only 0.075 pts off the podium. She also recorded 11th best result in the all-around individual qualification (no individual all-around final was held).
She confirmed her supremacy in the Czech national championships, winning four of five possible titles, and in the World Championships, where she was the best of the Czech team and narrowly missed the all-around final. She finished 32nd in the qualification becoming the second stand-by alternate for the final, and as Lais Souza of Brazil withdrew for the final and American Ashley Priess replaced injured compatriot Chellsie Memmel
, she was the first gymnast not qualified (like in the 2004 Olympics).
By participating in the finals in the following competition (World Cup finals in Brazil, December 2006, and European Championships in Amsterdam
, April 2007), she confirmed herself as the top vaulter.
She qualified in the vault event finals of the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart finishing in seventh place. Her vaults received high execution marks but their relative lack of difficulty prevented her from finishing higher.
The Czech Republic have qualified to send one gymnast to the 2008 Olympics. As Jana is very experienced and was their only athlete to qualify to a final at the 2007 worlds, she was thought to have a good chance of being selected for Beijing. However, she has said that as she has been to the Olympics twice it is time for another Czech gymnast to have the opportunity, and to this end she retired in early 2008.
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
from Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, who participated in 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
Career to 2000
Komrsková, daughter of a gymnastics coach Jan Komrska and 1972 Olympian Zdena Komrsková (née Dorňáková), started gymnastics at the age of four. Both parents were her coaches in her home gym in ZlínZlín
Zlín , from 1949 to 1989 Gottwaldov , is a city in the Zlín Region, southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic, on the Dřevnice River. The development of the modern city is closely connected to the Bata Shoes company...
, also her younger sister Aneta competed in gymnastics, while her older sister Lucie was one of the leading Czech long-jumpers
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
. Her role model was Olympic champion Svetlana Boginskaya
Svetlana Boginskaya
Svetlana Leonidovna Boginskaya , is a Soviet/Belarusian gymnast. She was called the "Belarusian Swan" and the "Goddess of Gymnastics" because of her height, balletic grace, and long lines. She is especially renowned for the drama and artistry she displayed on floor exercise...
. In age of 10, she was a member of the Czech national junior team and in 1995 she participated in the European Junior Championships for the first time.
Her progress was very fast, in 1997 she won three titles in the senior national championships, including the all-around title, which belongs to her in following years as well. She shows uneven bars and vault are going to be her strongest apparatuses.
In 1999 Komrsková participated in the Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
World Championships
1999 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 34th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held at Tianjin Arena in Tianjin, China in 1999.-All-around:-Apparatus:-All-around:-Apparatus:...
, where she finished in ninth place in the all-around qualification, but major faults on beam sent her back to 33rd in the all-around final. The goal - qualification for the Olympic Games - was fulfilled only partially, the Czech team finished in 16th place, not qualifying for Sydney, but that let two individual gymnasts to go to Australia.
In the Olympic year, Komrsková recorded her first successes in the Grand Prix (2nd place on vault in Cottbus
Cottbus
Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of , its population was .- History :...
behind Russia's Elena Produnova) and finished 9th in the European Championships all-around.
She participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
together with Kateřina Marešová, but only she managed to qualify for the all-around individual final, finishing in 29th place. She had to fight pain in her forearm after she got infected through her blisters. Immediately after the final she had to undergo a small surgery intervention.
After the Games, Komrsková finished in fourth place on both uneven bars and vault in the World Cup final in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
Career to 2004
After her first Olympic participation, Komrsková already belonged to the world elite, waiting for her first big international success. She missed it narrowly in 2001. Following several podium finishes in the World Cup events, she arrived to the GhentGhent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
2001 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 35th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Ghent, Belgium, in 2001 at the Flanders Sports Arena. This was the first Worlds at which the 6-3-3—six athletes per team, three compete, all three scores count—format was used in team finals...
as one of the vault favorites. She advanced to the final and finished fourth behind top vaulters Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Khorkina
Svetlana Vasilyevna Khorkina is a popular Russian gymnast and seven-time Olympic medalist, who is now a deputy at the Russian State Duma. With an unprecedented nine gold, eight silver, and three bronze World Championships medals, she is one of the most successful female gymnasts of her era and has...
, Oksana Chusovitina
Oksana Chusovitina
Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina is an Olympic medalist and World Champion gymnast who has competed for Germany since 2006. She was formerly a citizen of, and a competitor for, the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan ....
and Andreea Răducan
Andreea Raducan
Andreea Mădălina Răducan is a retired gymnast from Bârlad, Romania.Răducan began competing in gymnastics at a young age and was training at the Romanian junior national facility by the age of 12½. As one of the standout gymnasts of the Romanian team in the late 1990s, Răducan was known for both...
, losing bronze medal to Raducan by 0.037 pt.
Komrsková continued her career connecting World Cup successes to her bad luck results in the international championships. She was the stand-by for vault final in 2003 World Artistic Championships and for uneven bars final in 2002 European Championships, missing the final by 0.012 pt. Her 11th place in the all-around competition in the 2002 European Championships was her top result in this period. She managed to clinch the only Czech place for the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
, but she also brought home injured elbow from Anaheim, the host city of the 2003 World Championships, at the end of the year she also broke bones in her foot. Ahead of the Olympic Games, Komrsková thus missed European and national championships because of rehabilitation and training, managing meanwhile to finish her high school studies.
In the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
, Komrsková finished 32nd in the all-around qualification and was the second alternate for the final as the number of the finalists was reduced from 32 to 24 between 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. As Romania's Oana Ban
Oana Ban
Oana Mihaela Ban is a retired Romanian artistic gymnast. She is an Olympic gold medalist with the team and a world silver medalist on beam and with the team...
withdrew from the final, Komrsková was the best gymnast not to compete in the final. (Australia's Moorhouse replaced her compatriot Monette Russo
Monette Russo
Monette Simone Russo is an Australian Artistic Gymnast. She made Australian history by becoming the first Australian gymnast ever to win an individual World Championship medal at the 2005 Melbourne Artistic Gymnastics World Championships when she came third in the all-around competition...
).
About her participation in the 2004 Olympics, Komrsková said: "When I was in the Olympic Games before, I was younger and I was a bit overwhelmed. Now it's a normal competition for me. I still think the Olympics is the most important competition for an athlete, but now I am a lot more relaxed about it."
Interruption of Career and Comeback
In 1999, Komrsková said she would do athleticsAthletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
if she was not gymnast. After the 2004 Olympic Games, Komrsková finally decided to end her gymnastics career and to try athletics. Her aim was to compete in pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
, following the example of the former Czech gymnast and later pole vault world record holder Daniela Bártová
Daniela Bártová
Daniela Bártová-Břečková is a retired Czech athlete. She was born in Ostrava. Originally a gymnast, her coach persuaded her to be a pole vaulter. She set nine world records in the mid-1990s, but she lost it on 4 November 1995 to Sun Caiyun and was unable to recapture it...
. Komrsková however did not proceed well, being limited by her elbow injury. She also tried to join her sister Lucie in long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
, but finally decided to come back to gymnastics.
She had to change her coaches, as both parents already retired from gymnastics coaching, so the national team coach Stanislav Vyzina took care of her in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
.
In late 2005 she returned to Czech competitions, but did not feel prepared enough to participate in the 2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
2005 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
The 38th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia from the 21st to the 27th November 2005. Only the all-around and event finals were contested at this meet...
yet. She also visited her sister's wedding during the championships.
She however soon recorded good results in World Cup events in her strong vault: she won her first ever World Cup final - the B-category World Cup in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
. In 2006 she continued with strong performances in the World Cup (Maribor - 1st vault, 3rd balance beam; Moscow - 2nd vault, Lyon - 2nd vault etc.), but also participated in top international championships. The European Championships took place in Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Komrsková finished fourth in the vault final, only 0.075 pts off the podium. She also recorded 11th best result in the all-around individual qualification (no individual all-around final was held).
She confirmed her supremacy in the Czech national championships, winning four of five possible titles, and in the World Championships, where she was the best of the Czech team and narrowly missed the all-around final. She finished 32nd in the qualification becoming the second stand-by alternate for the final, and as Lais Souza of Brazil withdrew for the final and American Ashley Priess replaced injured compatriot Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Marie Memmel is an American gymnast. She is the 2005 World All-Around Champion, making her the third American woman, after Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller, to become World Champion in the All-Around. She is also a World Champion on the uneven bars and as part of the U.S. team...
, she was the first gymnast not qualified (like in the 2004 Olympics).
By participating in the finals in the following competition (World Cup finals in Brazil, December 2006, and European Championships in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, April 2007), she confirmed herself as the top vaulter.
She qualified in the vault event finals of the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart finishing in seventh place. Her vaults received high execution marks but their relative lack of difficulty prevented her from finishing higher.
The Czech Republic have qualified to send one gymnast to the 2008 Olympics. As Jana is very experienced and was their only athlete to qualify to a final at the 2007 worlds, she was thought to have a good chance of being selected for Beijing. However, she has said that as she has been to the Olympics twice it is time for another Czech gymnast to have the opportunity, and to this end she retired in early 2008.
Trivia
- Jana Komrsková is 1.67 m (5.5 ft) tall, which makes her one of the tallest athletes among the world elite gymnasts.
- Komrsková acted in a television advertisement campaign for a Czech mineral water producer.
- She was also the topic of a television documentary. The Czech TelevisionCeská televizeČeská televize is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting four channels.- Czechoslovak Television :Television in Czechoslovakia started to take its first steps before World War II. However, before visible results could be achieved, all activities were interrupted by...
series about young people outstanding in their domains was named "Do Not Extinguish, I'm on fire!" and was first aired in 2003. - In 2001, the Czech sport journalists voted Komrsková to 18th place in the Czech Athlete of the Year poll. She beat Pavel NedvědPavel NedvedPavel Nedvěd is a retired Czech football midfielder. He is one of the most successful Czech players to emerge from the newly formed Czech Republic, winning numerous accolades with Lazio and Juventus, including the last ever Cup Winners' Cup...
and others. She also won the Progym.cz Agency poll Czech Gymnast of the Year several times. - Father Jan Komrska coached Komrsková in the 2000 Summer Olympics2000 Summer OlympicsThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, while mother Zdena did it in the 2004 Summer Olympics2004 Summer OlympicsThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
. Komrsková said: "The lots were cast before Sydney, who will fly with me. Now the parents changed their roles."
External links
- Komrsková's Profile on Gymbox.net web