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Alina Kabaeva

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Alina Kabaeva
— Gymnast —
KabaevaOrdercropped.jpg
Personal information
Full name Alina Maratovna Kabaeva
Country represented Russia
Born 12 May 1983 (age 33)
Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
Residence Moscow, Russia
Height 166 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight 50 kg (110 lb)
Discipline Rhythmic gymnastics
Club MGFSO Dynamo
Head coach(es) Irina Viner
Assistant coach(es) Vera Shatalina
Choreographer Veronica Shatkova
Eponymous skills backscale pivots
Retired 2007

Alina Maratovna Kabaeva (Russian: Али́на Мара́товна Каба́ева; born 12 May 1983)[1] is a Russian Honored Master of Sports, a retired rhythmic gymnast, and a politician.

Kabaeva is one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of rhythmic rymnastics, with two Olympic medals, 14 World Championship medals, and 25 European Championship medals.

From 2007 to 2014, Kabaeva was a State Duma Deputy from the United Russia Party. In September 2014, Kabaeva became the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the National Media Group (ru).

Early life and career[edit]

Kabaeva, the daughter of a Tatar father[2] and Russian mother, was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, in the Soviet Union, on 12 May 1983.[1]

Kabaeva started Rhythmic Gymnastics at age 3, with Coach Margarita Samuilovna.[3] Kabaeva's father, Marat Kabayev, was a professional football (soccer) player, and the family was constantly following him to different places in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. In her young teens, Kabaeva moved to Russia, where her mother took her to the Russian Head Coach, Irina Viner, who liked her from the start.[citation needed]

Kabaeva 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, Kabaeva was the youngest member of the Russian squad, competing alongside internationally recognized teammates, such as Amina Zaripova. In 1999, Kabaeva became the European Champion for the second consecutive time, and won the World Title in Osaka, Japan. Kabaeva 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.[citation needed]

(L-R) Alina Kabaeva (bronze), Yulia Barsukova(gold) and Yulia Raskina (silver) at 2000 Olympic Games podium

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, in Australia, Kabaeva was expected to claim Gold in All-Around; however, due to an error in an otherwise exceptional performance—she dropped her hoop, and ran to retrieve it outside of the competition area—Kabaeva won the Bronze Medal, 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 Olympic Gold Medal.[citation needed]

At the 2001 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, Kabaeva won the Gold Medal for the Ball, Clubs and Rope, and Gold Medal in the Individual All-Around andHoop competition. At the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, Kabaeva won the Gold Medal for the Ball, Clubs, and Rope competitions, 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.[citation needed]

Kabaeva appeared briefly in the 2001 Japanese movie, Red Shadow, performing her gymnastic routine.[4]

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 that the Goodwill Games Organizing Committee nullify Kabaeva and Tchachina's results. The FIG also nullified their results from the World Championships in Madrid, Spain, causing Ukraine's Tamara Yerofeeva to be declared the 2001 World Champion.[citation needed]

Kabaeva won the All-Around Gold Medal at the 2003 World Championships, as well as the event final in Ribbon and Ball ahead of Anna Bessonova from Ukraine.

In 2004, Kabaeva won the All-Around Gold at the 2004 European Championships in Kiev. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Greece, Kabaeva won 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.[5]

In October 2004, Kabaeva announced her retirement from the sport.[6] However, in June 2005, the Russian Head Coach Irina Viner announced a possible comeback.[7] Kabaeva resumed her sport career at an Italy-Russia friendly competition in Genoa, on 10 September 2005.[8] On 5 March 2006, Kabaeva won the Gazprom Moscow Grand Prix, with fellow Russians Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova, taking the Second and Third places.[9]Kabaeva won the Silver Medal in All-Around at the 2006 European Championships, behind teammate Sessina.

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

At the 2007 European Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan; Kabaeva, Sessina, and Kapranova were chosen to represent Russia. However, on the eve of the competition, Kabaeva withdrew due to an injury. Viner selected rising upcoming gymnast Evgenia Kanaeva from Russia's National Team as the replacement. Kabaeva finished 4th in All-Around 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.

Kabaeva completed her career after the 2007 Season.

After retirement[edit]

Between 2007 and 2014, Kabaeva has been a Member of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, representing the United Russia party. Since February 2008, Kabaeva has been Chairman of the National Media Group'sPublic 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.

In her capacity of a Member of Parliament, Kabaeva voted for a number of controversial laws that were speedily adopted in 2012 and 2013, including the Anti-Magnitsky bill on the ban of intercountry adoption (of Russian orphans) by U.S. families,[11] as well as laws on the prohibition of the "homosexual propaganda" aimed at adolescents, on extrajudicial ban of access to websites which may host materials violating copyright laws, and on the reorganization of the Academy of Sciences.[12]

Kabaeva was among the six Russian athlete torch bearers who carried the Olympic flame through Fisht Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Kabaeva's selection as a torch bearer generated controversy in the international media, largely due to her personal ties to Vladimir Putin.[13]

In September 2014, Kabaeva resigned from the Duma and accepted the position of Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Media Group, the largest Russian media conglomerate.[14]

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 (also known as "The Kabaeva"), the ring position with a slow full turn and the backscale pivot that she first performed.[15]