Original taken from sayanarus in Secrets of Alina Kabaeva

Alina Maratovna Kabaeva is a renowned Russian athlete: Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics in 2004, multiple world, European and Russian champion. After completing her sports career in 2007, Alina Kabaeva became a deputy of the State Duma from the United Russia party.

Alina Kabaeva at the premiere of the musical "Chicago" in Moscow in March 2014

Biography

Alina Kabaeva was born on May 12, 1983 in Tashkent, now the capital of Uzbekistan. Alina's father is a famous football player Marat Kabaev, a Tatar by nationality. Mother - basketball player Lyubov Mikhailovna, Russian. On her official website kabaeva-alina.ru Kabaeva writes that she understands the Tatar language: " I was also lucky with my grandmother on my father's side. She always spoke to me only in Tatar, and I understood her. Thanks to her, I still understand the Tatar language, although I can no longer speak. As a child, I could, my dad is Tatar. Both grandmother is Tatar and grandfather".

Marat Kabaev with his daughters: Alina (left) and Lisana (right)

Alina Kabaeva in a Tatar skullcap

The fact that Alina's parents were athletes predetermined her fate: " I got into sports thanks to my parents: my dad was a football player, and my mother played basketball. Her basketball team trained in the same gym with gymnasts. First, the wards of Irina Viner trained, and then the basketball players entered the court. Once seeing Irina Aleksandrovna, my mother said: "If I have a girl, I will definitely send her to rhythmic gymnastics, and it is to this coach." And so it happened".

Alina Kabaeva in childhood

Alina Kabaeva with her mother and younger sister Lisana:

Alina began to engage in rhythmic gymnastics at the age of three and a half, and at the age of 12 she moved with her mother to Moscow to train with Irina Viner, who immediately set a condition: to lose weight (by gymnastic standards, Alina is inclined to be overweight, which is somewhat noticeable now, after the end of a sports career).

Alina Kabaeva at the age of 12:

Alina Kabaeva's parameters during her sports career (for 2005): height 166 cm, weight 52 kg, chest 86 cm, waist 64 cm, hips 86 cm.

Since 1996, Alina began to play for the Russian national rhythmic gymnastics team, two years later she became the absolute champion of Europe, and a year later she became the absolute world champion.

Arriving at the Olympics in Australian Sydney in the rank of absolute favorite, Kabaeva could not cope with her nerves and made a fatal mistake - she dropped the hoop during her performance. As a result, she won only bronze. However, in this type of competition Russia was not left without gold: it was won by another ward of Irina Viner - Yulia Barsukova.
Alina Kabaeva managed to become Olympic champion 4 years later, in Athens. Having lost in competitions with a hoop and a ribbon to another Russian woman, Irina Chashchina, Kabaeva showed the best results in exercises with a ball and clubs and still won in total points, leaving Chashchina with silver.

It is worth noting that before the Olympics in Athens, Alina Kabaeva, who was previously a non-practicing Muslim, converted to Orthodoxy.

The last big start for Alina Kabaeva was the 2007 World Championship, where she won gold in the team and bronze in ribbon exercises.
After completing her sports career, Kabaeva shared the fate of many famous Russian athletes, becoming a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party, but in September 2014 she resigned from her parliamentary powers, becoming the chairman of the board of directors of the National Media Group holding. The holding includes Channel 5 (the group owns 72.4%), Channel One (25%), REN TV (68%), Izvestia newspaper (73.2%) and the Russian news service radio station (100%).

Two former champions in the State Duma: Nikolai Valuev and Alina Kabaeva

A film about Alina Kabaeva, filmed by Channel One

Personal life. Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin

In April 2008, the Moscow Correspondent newspaper published an article that Vladimir Putin allegedly divorced his wife Lyudmila (whereas in reality the divorce happened only 5 years later - in 2013) and was going to marry Alina Kabaeva.

The article caused such a resonance that at Putin's press conference in Italy on April 18, 2008, one of the journalists asked: " Vladimir Vladimirovich, I want to ask you about rumors: during your presidency, you have repeatedly come across various rumors, "ducks" - both about the country and about you personally. Here, in Italy, I looked at Italian newspapers and was surprised to discover how popular the topic of your upcoming wedding with Alina Kabaeva is here. I want to ask you - how do you feel about all this personally, and (sorry for, of course, a very delicate question) is it true that you divorced your wife, and is it true that your daughter got married and lives in Munich?"
Putin responded with the following: " The first thing I want to say is that there is not a single word of truth in what you said. Second: You mentioned an article in one of our tabloid newspapers where our Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics Alina Kabaeva is indeed mentioned and, I think, Katya Andreeva, your colleague who works on Channel One of Russian television, is mentioned. In other publications of this kind, other successful beautiful, young women, girls are mentioned. And I think it will not be unexpected if I say that I like all of them, just like all Russian women. I think that no one will be offended if I say that I personally believe that our Russian women are the most talented and most beautiful. If anyone can compete with them, it can only be Italians.
I, of course, know the hackneyed phrase and cliché that politicians live in a glass house, and society, of course, has the right to know how people who are engaged in public activities live. But in this case, there are still some restrictions. There is a privacy that no one is allowed to interfere with. I have always had a negative attitude towards those who, with some kind of flu-like nose and with their erotic fantasies, climb into someone else's life."(quoted from the transcript from the Kremlin's official website - http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/24922).

The first meeting between Vladimir Putin and 20-year-old Alina Kabaeva dates back to 2003, when the president congratulated the rhythmic gymnastics team on winning the world championship. Photo - RIA Novosti (Vladimir Rodionov).

Despite the public denial, rumors about the romance between Putin and Kabaeva did not subside and escalated again after the divorce of Vladimir Putin in 2013. They even talked about Kabaeva's two children from Putin. Kabaeva received the clownish nickname "Fun Putyatishna".

The son of Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin is often added to this photo in Photoshop:

Alina Kabaeva herself, like Putin, refutes these rumors. From an interview with Bolshoi Sport magazine in 2013 (after Putin's divorce): " Life experience taught me not to let anyone into my personal life. Who wants to talk about work, the festival, other professional moments - please, but not about personal. The only thing I can say is that I have no children. It's true".

10 years earlier, Alina Kabaeva spoke a little more frankly about her personal life. From a 2003 interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda:

They write so many different things about you. What's the biggest nonsense you've read about yourself?

- That I am getting married.

Is your fan (so everyone can calm down) has anything to do with sports?

- No, but keeps fit... - Alina immediately catches herself and continues with a laugh: - I know such questions. If it has nothing to do with sports, then it means some kind of businessman. They wrote on the Internet that I went to Milan, that I had four suitcases with me, and then two were stolen, and my boyfriend gave me an insanely expensive dress, and then I had a fight with him, and this dress was also stolen from me. So I don't want to say anything about my personal life.

I was amazed that in an interview you, a 19-year-old girl, talk about the fact that a man, in principle, cannot not go “to the left” ...

- It seems to me that it is so. But a loving person will never make it so that physical betrayal can be guessed. If a person wants to break off relations with you, then, of course, he will behave defiantly: turn off the phone and not communicate ... This, fortunately, did not happen to me. I’m leaving in English all the time. Quiet.

That is, physical infidelity is not yet infidelity?

- It seems to me not. But it's better not to know and not talk about it. For example, I have a girlfriend, and I know a lot about her boyfriend. But I will never tell her this in my life - they have to figure it out themselves. I also do not like it when they start to tell me about my acquaintances, where they saw whom and with whom.

Now Kabaeva does not deny that she is not alone, although she does not reveal the name of her lover. From an interview with the magazine "Interlocutor" in 2014: " Thank God there is love in my life. This is great happiness". Alina also commented on the information regarding the ring, supposedly similar to the engagement ring, which appeared on her finger at the Olympics. The audience saw the accessory when the gymnast was carrying the Olympic torch through the Fisht stadium. The question about the ring made the athlete smile:" I myself do not remember what ring I had there. Well, you see, this ring is definitely not a diamond one. Talking in the kitchen, discussing someone's rings - this is, in general, normal, there is nothing wrong with that. For me, the main thing is that everything I say does not harm people. Everyone should have their little secrets - I have them too. I am happy that love surrounds me. But you can't be too happy either, so as not to frighten off your happiness.".

Quite a candid photo of Alina Kabaeva for a Japanese magazine.

Photo instagram.com

The Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix kicked off in Moscow, within the framework of which the competition for the Gazprom Champions Cup named after Alina Kabaeva took place. Alina chose an elegant black dress of a free silhouette to go out and changed her usual curls to a ponytail. The athlete looked refreshed and rejuvenated, which was immediately noticed by the audience and the media.

Photos from the Cup that have hit the network are quickly gaining popularity - after all, they rarely write about Alina Kabaeva. Any mention of her name in the media becomes a hit.

Photo instagram.com

The picture in which Alina Kabaeva is depicted with a little girl was bombarded with compliments:

"So rejuvenated and beautiful here"

"Such a wonderful and great gymnast Alina Kabaeva! Honor and praise her that she gives little girls a chance to open up and achieve success not only in sports, but also in life! She is a wonderful example for all youth",

"So prettier!"

"Looks amazing"

"Beautiful and natural - all her own, and not made like all stars - cheekbones, lips, nose."

Photo instagram.com

Kabaeva, who was the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships ambassador last year, appears primarily at competitions or sports-related events.

Each will certainly become the main topic for heated discussions, both in the official press and on social networks. In the fall, the athlete again amazed fans with her image, which was unanimously recognized as incredibly sexy.

Alina Kabaeva was born on May 12, 1983 in Tashkent, now the capital of Uzbekistan. Alina's father is a famous football player Marat Kabaev, a Tatar by nationality. Mother - basketball player Lyubov Mikhailovna, Russian. On her official website kabaeva-alina.ru Kabaeva writes that she understands the Tatar language: " I was also lucky with my grandmother on my father's side. She always spoke to me only in Tatar, and I understood her. Thanks to her, I still understand the Tatar language, although I can no longer speak. As a child, I could, my dad is Tatar. Both grandmother is Tatar and grandfather".

Marat Kabaev with his daughters: Alina (left) and Lisana (right)

The fact that Alina's parents were athletes predetermined her fate: " I got into sports thanks to my parents: my dad was a football player, and my mother played basketball. Her basketball team trained in the same gym with gymnasts. First, the wards of Irina Viner trained, and then the basketball players entered the court. Once seeing Irina Aleksandrovna, my mother said: "If I have a girl, I will definitely send her to rhythmic gymnastics, and it is to this coach." And so it happened".

Alina Kabaeva in childhood

Alina Kabaeva with her mother and younger sister Lisana:

Alina began to engage in rhythmic gymnastics at the age of three and a half, and at the age of 12 she moved with her mother to Moscow to train with Irina Viner, who immediately set a condition: to lose weight (by gymnastic standards, Alina is inclined to be overweight, which is somewhat noticeable now, after the end of a sports career).

Alina Kabaeva at the age of 12:

Alina Kabaeva's parameters during her sports career (for 2005): height 166 cm, weight 52 kg, chest 86 cm, waist 64 cm, hips 86 cm.

Since 1996, Alina began to play for the Russian national rhythmic gymnastics team, two years later she became the absolute champion of Europe, and a year later she became the absolute world champion.

Arriving at the Olympics in Australian Sydney in the rank of absolute favorite, Kabaeva could not cope with her nerves and made a fatal mistake - she dropped the hoop during her performance. As a result, she won only bronze. However, in this type of competition Russia was not left without gold: it was won by another ward of Irina Viner - Yulia Barsukova.
Alina Kabaeva managed to become Olympic champion 4 years later, in Athens. Having lost in competitions with a hoop and a ribbon to another Russian woman, Irina Chashchina, Kabaeva showed the best results in exercises with a ball and clubs and still won in total points, leaving Chashchina with silver.

It is worth noting that before the Olympics in Athens, Alina Kabaeva, who was previously a non-practicing Muslim, converted to Orthodoxy.

The last big start for Alina Kabaeva was the 2007 World Championship, where she won gold in the team and bronze in ribbon exercises.
After completing her sports career, Kabaeva shared the fate of many famous Russian athletes, becoming a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party, but in September 2014 she resigned from her parliamentary powers, becoming the chairman of the board of directors of the National Media Group holding. The holding includes Channel 5 (the group owns 72.4%), Channel One (25%), REN TV (68%), Izvestia newspaper (73.2%) and the Russian news service radio station (100%).

Two former champions in the State Duma: Nikolai Valuev and Alina Kabaeva

A film about Alina Kabaeva, filmed by Channel One

Personal life. Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin

In April 2008, the Moscow Correspondent newspaper published an article that Vladimir Putin allegedly divorced his wife Lyudmila (whereas in reality the divorce happened only 5 years later - in 2013) and was going to marry Alina Kabaeva.

The article caused such a resonance that at Putin's press conference in Italy on April 18, 2008, one of the journalists asked: " Vladimir Vladimirovich, I want to ask you about rumors: during your presidency, you have repeatedly come across various rumors, "ducks" - both about the country and about you personally. Here, in Italy, I looked at Italian newspapers and was surprised to discover how popular the topic of your upcoming wedding with Alina Kabaeva is here. I want to ask you - how do you feel about all this personally, and (sorry for, of course, a very delicate question) is it true that you divorced your wife, and is it true that your daughter got married and lives in Munich?"
Putin responded with the following: " The first thing I want to say is that there is not a single word of truth in what you said. Second: You mentioned an article in one of our tabloid newspapers where our Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics Alina Kabaeva is indeed mentioned and, I think, Katya Andreeva, your colleague who works on Channel One of Russian television, is mentioned. In other publications of this kind, other successful beautiful, young women, girls are mentioned. And I think it will not be unexpected if I say that I like all of them, just like all Russian women. I think that no one will be offended if I say that I personally believe that our Russian women are the most talented and most beautiful. If anyone can compete with them, it can only be.
I, of course, know the hackneyed phrase and cliché that politicians live in a glass house, and society, of course, has the right to know how people who are engaged in public activities live. But in this case, there are still some restrictions. There is a privacy that no one is allowed to interfere with. I have always had a negative attitude towards those who, with some kind of flu-like nose and with their erotic fantasies, climb into someone else's life."(quoted from the transcript from the Kremlin's official website - http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/24922).

The first meeting between Vladimir Putin and 20-year-old Alina Kabaeva dates back to 2003, when the president congratulated the rhythmic gymnastics team on winning the world championship. Photo - RIA Novosti (Vladimir Rodionov).

Despite the public denial, rumors about the romance between Putin and Kabaeva did not subside and escalated again after the divorce of Vladimir Putin in 2013. They even talked about Kabaeva's two children from Putin. Kabaeva received the clownish nickname "Fun Putyatishna".

The son of Alina Kabaeva and Vladimir Putin is often added to this photo in Photoshop:

Alina Kabaeva herself, like Putin, refutes these rumors. From an interview with Bolshoi Sport magazine in 2013 (after Putin's divorce): " Life experience taught me not to let anyone into my personal life. Who wants to talk about work, the festival, other professional moments - please, but not about personal. The only thing I can say is that I have no children. It's true".

10 years earlier, Alina Kabaeva spoke a little more frankly about her personal life. From a 2003 interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda:

They write so many different things about you. What's the biggest nonsense you've read about yourself?

- That I am getting married.

Is your fan (so everyone can calm down) has anything to do with sports?

- No, but keeps fit... - Alina immediately catches herself and continues with a laugh: - I know such questions. If it has nothing to do with sports, then it means some kind of businessman. They wrote on the Internet that I went to Milan, that I had four suitcases with me, and then two were stolen, and my boyfriend gave me an insanely expensive dress, and then I had a fight with him, and this dress was also stolen from me. So I don't want to say anything about my personal life.

I was amazed that in an interview you, a 19-year-old girl, talk about the fact that a man, in principle, cannot not go “to the left” ...

- It seems to me that it is so. But a loving person will never make it so that physical betrayal can be guessed. If a person wants to break off relations with you, then, of course, he will behave defiantly: turn off the phone and not communicate ... This, fortunately, did not happen to me. I’m leaving in English all the time. Quiet.

That is, physical infidelity is not yet infidelity?

- It seems to me not. But it's better not to know and not talk about it. For example, I have a girlfriend, and I know a lot about her boyfriend. But I will never tell her this in my life - they have to figure it out themselves. I also do not like it when they start to tell me about my acquaintances, where they saw whom and with whom.

Now Kabaeva does not deny that she is not alone, although she does not reveal the name of her lover. From an interview with the magazine "Interlocutor" in 2014: " Thank God there is love in my life. This is great happiness". Alina also commented on the information regarding the ring, supposedly similar to the engagement ring, which appeared on her finger at the Olympics. The audience saw the accessory when the gymnast was carrying the Olympic torch through the Fisht stadium. The question about the ring made the athlete smile:" I myself do not remember what ring I had there. Well, you see, this ring is definitely not a diamond one. Talking in the kitchen, discussing someone's rings - this is, in general, normal, there is nothing wrong with that. For me, the main thing is that everything I say does not harm people. Everyone should have their little secrets - I have them too. I am happy that love surrounds me. But you can't be too happy either, so as not to frighten off your happiness.".

A rather candid photo of Alina Kabaeva for a Japanese magazine:

Alina Kabaeva in Maxim / Maxim magazine:

Alina Kabaeva (05/12/83) - multiple world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, deputy of the federal assembly from the United Russia party. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin appreciates the special energy and beauty of Kabaeva, which led to scandalous rumors, including about their upcoming wedding and the birth of children. The president then said emotionally: "I have always had a negative attitude towards those who, with some kind of flu-like nose and with their erotic fantasies, climb into someone else's life." Kabaeva's parameters: height - 164; weight-46 kg.

Alina Kabaeva was born and raised in Tashkent. Her father, a Tatar, was a professional footballer and played for the Pakhtakor team. Mother, Russian, played in the national basketball team of Uzbekistan. She wanted her daughter to seriously engage in figure skating, but there were no strong schools of this sport in hot Uzbekistan, so at 3.5 years old the girl was sent to the rhythmic gymnastics section. When the young gymnast turned 12, it became clear that she needed to move on. Alina and her mother moved to Moscow to train with Irina Viner. The new mentor immediately set a tough condition: to lose weight. Despite the fact that the coaches called her “TV on legs”, this did not prevent her from demonstrating outstanding success. At the age of 15, she won the European Championship and in 1999 she won the World Championship. She came to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney hoping to take gold, but made a mistake in her performance with the hoop, and became the third.

In 2001, a doping scandal erupted. Alina Kabaeva and Irina Chashchina were convicted of using furosemide, which, although not doping, is used to eliminate prohibited substances. The athletes were stripped of all the awards of the 2001 Goodwill Games and World Cup. During the disqualification, Kabaeva did not get bored: she hosted the weekly program "Sport Empire", starred in the Japanese feature film "Red Shadow", as well as in the video for the song of the "Game of Words" group.

The 2004 Athens Olympics were successful and she won first place. Alina was going to take part in the Olympics in Beijing, but in 2007 she suddenly decided to leave her sports career.

Apparently, this happened due to the fact that, carried away by social and political activities, she realized that she would have to choose between sports and politics. From October 2005 to September 2007, Kabaeva was a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, but in September 2007 she and Alla Pugacheva were removed from the Public Chamber, as they "not only did not work, but did not appear at all at meetings." In 2007, she again became a member of the State Duma from the United Russia party.

Beauty, sportswoman Alina Kabaeva has always attracted the attention of the male population. However, women also appreciate her. In 2006, Alina became a laureate of the nationwide "Woman of the Year" award from the "Glamor" magazine, and men considered her the sexiest in Russia among 10 winners of the "Top 10 Sexy" award in the "sports" category. This is not surprising, because she showed her charms in the magazine "Caravan of History" in 2003 and in the magazine "Maxim". In 2010, she became one of the few non-models (along with Alla Pugacheva, Anna Kournikova, Renata Litvinova and Ingeborga Dapkunaite) whose photographs were placed on the cover of the Russian magazine Vogue.

According to the famous Moscow photographer Mikhail Korolev, Kabaeva was reluctant to take a photo session for the Maxim magazine, as she was afraid to look vulgar. However, on the set, she behaved completely naturally and, according to the photographer, “did not make herself a capricious star”. The photographer admits that usually make-up artists make up the bodies of the models, and then the photographs are processed on a computer, but “Alina did not need special measures. She has a well-groomed body. There is a lot of sex in her. Some special energy comes from her. "

A scandal is also associated with her name. In 2008, the Moscow Correspondent newspaper reported on the secret connection between Putin and Kabaeva. After the publication, the owner of the newspaper, Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, immediately denied this, and the publication was closed as unprofitable. But the rumors did not subside.

At the end of 2012, the American edition of the New York Post published an article entitled "Putin's child from a Russian gymnast." In the article, Richard Johnson claims that 29-year-old Alina Kabaeva gave birth to a girl in November last year, and this is already the second child, and the first is a boy. According to the publication, Kabaeva named her "first child" Dmitry - in honor of the then President Dmitry Medvedev. According to the ubiquitous Americans, Putin settled Kabaeva with two children in his "Sochi palace" Bocharov Ruchei. Alina Kabaeva's press secretary said that these reports in foreign media are outright lies. “Alina Maratovna has no children to this day. Not a boy, not a girl. " Kabaeva stated that the boy, whom everyone took for her son, is her nephew Arseny.

Currently, Kabaeva has recovered a little, but, as the tweeters noted, "it is much more pleasant to look at her than at other deputies of our parliament."