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Alina Kabaeva
Personal information
Full name	Alina Maratovna Kabaeva
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1983-05-12) May 12, 1983 (age 30) Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
Residence	Moscow
Height	166 centimetres (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	50 kilograms (110 lb)
Discipline	Rhythmic gymnastics
Club	MGFSO Dynamo
Head coach(es)	Irina Viner
Assistant coach(es)	Vera Shatalina
Choreographer	Veronica Shatkova
Music	Sirtaki by Mikis Theodorakis, Walpurgis Night by Charles Gounod, Rio Rita by Harold Arlen, Espana Cani
Eponymous skills	backscale pivots
Retired	2007
Medal record Representing  Russia Rhythmic Gymnastics Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens All-around Bronze 2000 Sydney All-around World Championships Gold 2007 Patras Team Gold 2003 Budapest All-around Gold 2003 Budapest Team Gold 2003 Budapest Ball Gold 2003 Budapest Ribbon Gold 1999 Osaka All-around Gold 1999 Osaka Team Gold 1999 Osaka Ball Gold 1999 Osaka Ribbon Silver 2003 Budapest Hoop Silver 1999 Osaka Rope Silver 1999 Osaka Hoop Bronze 2007 Patras Ribbon Bronze 2003 Budapest Clubs Disqualified 2001 Madrid All-around Disqualified 2001 Madrid Rope Disqualified 2001 Madrid Ball Disqualified 2001 Madrid Hoop Disqualified 2001 Madrid Clubs Disqualified 2001 Madrid Team European Championships Gold 2004 Kiev All-around Gold 2004 Kiev Team Gold 2002 Granada All-around Gold 2002 Granada Team Gold 2001 Geneva Hoop Gold 2001 Geneva Ball Gold 2001 Geneva Clubs Gold 2000 Zaragoza All-around Gold 2000 Zaragoza Team Gold 2000 Zaragoza Hoop Gold 2000 Zaragoza Ball Gold 2000 Zaragoza Ribbon Gold 1999 Budapest All-around Gold 1999 Budapest Hoop Gold 1998 Porto All-around Silver 2006 Moscow All-around Silver 2001 Geneva Rope Silver 1999 Budapest Ribbon Bronze 2000 Zaragoza Rope Bronze 1999 Budapest Rope Bronze 1998 Porto Team World Cup Final Gold 2004 Moscow Hoop Gold 2004 Moscow Ribbon Gold 2003 Baku All-around Gold 2000 Glasgow Rope Gold 2000 Glasgow Ball Gold 2000 Glasgow Ribbon Silver 2000 Glasgow Hoop Grand Prix Final Gold 1999 Korneuburg Hoop Gold 1999 Korneuburg Ball Gold 1999 Korneuburg Ribbon Silver 1999 Korneuburg All-around Goodwill Games Gold 1998 New York All-around Gold 1998 New York Clubs Gold 1998 New York Ribbon Gold 1998 New York Hoop Silver 1998 New York Rope Disqualified 2001 Brisbane All-around Disqualified 2001 Brisbane Ball Disqualified 2001 Brisbane Clubs Disqualified 2001 Brisbane Rope Disqualified 2001 Brisbane Hoop

Alina Maratovna Kabaeva (Russian: Али́на Мара́товна Каба́ева; Tatar: Älinä Marat qızı Qabayeva, Әлинә Марат кызы Кабаева; born May 12, 1983^[1]) is a Russian Honored Master of Sports, retired rhythmic gymnast, and politician. Since 2007, she has been a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party.

Kabaeva is Russia's second most successful rhythmic gymnast after Evgenia Kanaeva, and is also one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of rhythmic gymnastics with two Olympic medals, 14 world championship medals and 25 European championship medals.

Athletic career [edit]

Kabaeva, the daughter of a Tatar father^[2] and Russian mother, was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, in the Soviet Union.^[1] She started rhythmic gymnastics there at the age of 3 with coach Margarita Samuilovna.^[3] Her father Marat Kabayev was a professional football (soccer) player and the family was constantly following him to different places in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. At first, many coaches did not like Alina because they considered her "too heavy" and "ugly" to be a rhythmic gymnast, none of them seemed to consider her a rhythmic gymnast of any particular talent. In her young teens she moved to Russia, where her mother took her to the Russian head coach Irina Viner, who liked her from the start.

She stayed with Viner and made her international debut in 1996. In 1998 the 15-year-old Kabaeva won the European Championships in Portugal. At the time she was the youngest member of the Russian squad, competing alongside internationally recognized teammates, like Amina Zaripova. In 1999 Kabaeva became European Champion for the second consecutive time and won the World title in Osaka, Japan. She went on to win a total of 5 all-around titles at the European Championships and added another World title in 2003 in Budapest, Hungary.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Kabaeva was expected to claim gold in all-around, but, due to an error in an otherwise exceptional performance—she dropped her hoop and ran to retrieve it outside the competition area – took home the bronze with the final score of 39.466 (Rope 9.925, Hoop 9.641, Ball 9.950, Ribbon 9.950), Belarus' Yulia Raskina took the silver medal while fellow Russian teammate Yulia Barsukova won the Olympics Gold medal.

At the 2001 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, she won the gold for the ball, clubs and rope, and silver in the Individual All-Around and hoop. At the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, Kabaeva won the gold for the ball, clubs and rope, and the silver in the Individual All-Around and hoop. However, Kabaeva and her teammate Irina Tchachina tested positive to a banned diuretic (furosemide) and were stripped of their medals.

Irina Viner, the Russian head coach, who also served as the Vice President of the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee at the time, said her gymnasts had been taking a food supplement called "Hyper" which contained mild diuretics, which, according to Viner, the gymnasts were taking for pre-menstrual syndrome. When the supply ran out shortly before the Goodwill Games, the team physiotherapist restocked at a local pharmacy. According to Viner, the supplement sold there was fake and contained furosemide. The commission requested the Goodwill Games organizing committee to nullify Kabaeva and Tchachina's results. The FIG also nullified their results from the World Championships in Madrid, causing Ukraine's Tamara Yerofeeva to be declared the 2001 World Champion.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics Kabaeva took home the gold medal in the individual all-around for rhythmic gymnastics with a score of 108.400 (Hoop 26.800, Ball 27.350, Clubs 27.150, Ribbon 27.100), the silver medal went to her teammate Irina Tchachina.^[4]

In October 2004, Kabaeva announced her retirement from the sport.^[5] However, in June 2005, the Russian head coach Irina Viner announced a possible comeback.^[6] Kabaeva resumed her sport career at an Italy-Russia friendly competition in Genoa, on 10 September 2005.^[7] On March 5, 2006, She won the Gazprom Moscow Grand Prix, with fellow Russians Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova taking the second and third places.^[8] She won the silver medal in all-around at the 2006 European Championships.

Kabaeva finsihed 4th in qualifications at the 2007 World Championships and did not advance into the finals due to the two per country rule with Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova placing ahead of Kabaeva. She completed her career at the 2007 Season.

After retirement [edit]

Since 2005 Kabaeva has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.

She also appeared briefly in the 2001 Japanese movie Red Shadow, performing her gymnastic routine.^[9] Since 2007, Kabaeva has been a member of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, representing the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. Since February 2008 she has been Chairman of the National Media Group's Public Council,^[10] the media group that controls Izvestia, Channel One and REN TV.

In January 2011, Alina Kabaeva appeared on the cover of Vogue Russia.

Marriage controversy [edit]

In mid-April 2008, the Russian paper Moskovsky Korrespondent stated that she was engaged to marry the Russian President Vladimir Putin in mid-June, after he left office. It sourced the news to a St. Petersburg based planner bidding to conduct the wedding reception.^[11] On 18 April 2008, in a press conference with Silvio Berlusconi, Putin addressed the article: "There is not a single word of truth [in it]."^[12] While Putin had been abroad and unavailable for comment, Kabaeva's spokeswoman had already refused to discuss "this nonsense".^[13]

Influence [edit]

Kabaeva revolutionized rhythmic gymnastics as one of the few gymnasts to have performed new skills and elements which included the back split pivot with hand help, the ring turn and the backscale pivot that she first performed.^[14]

Achievements [edit]

• Youngest rhythmic gymnast to win the European Championships in 1998 Porto at 15 years of age.
• She levels with Elena Karpuchina as the youngest rhythmic gymnast to win the All-around World Championships in 1999 Osaka at 16 years of age.
• First to perform the backscale pivot.
• Holds the record for the most European All-around titles (1998,1999,2000,2002 and 2004).
• Kabaeva is only one of the three rhythmic gymnasts ( with Ekaterina Serebrianskaya and Evgenia Kanaeva ) to win all the Grand-slam titles (Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, World Cup Final and Grand Prix Final).

Detailed Olympic results [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alina Kabaeva

• Official website (Russian)
• http://www.kabaeva-alina.com/
• Alina Kabaeva at Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique
• Alina Kabaeva Biography and Olympic Results at Sports-Reference.com