Alina Kabaeva

Alina Kabaeva
— Gymnast —
Personal information
Full name	Alina Maratovna Kabaeva
Country represented	Russia
Born	(1983-05-12) 12 May 1983 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
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 1 World Championships 9 3 2 European Championships 15 3 3 European Team Championships 3 0 0 World Cup Final 5 1 0 Grand Prix Final 4 1 1 Goodwill Games 4 1 0 Total 41 9 7 Representing  Russia Rhythmic Gymnastics Olympic Games 2004 Athens All-around 2000 Sydney All-around World Championships 1999 Osaka All-around 1999 Osaka Team 1999 Osaka Ball 1999 Osaka Ribbon 2003 Budapest All-around 2003 Budapest Team 2003 Budapest Ball 2003 Budapest Ribbon 2007 Patras Team 1999 Osaka Rope 1999 Osaka Hoop 2003 Budapest Hoop 2003 Budapest Clubs 2007 Patras Ribbon 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 1998 Porto All-around 1999 Budapest All-around 1999 Budapest Hoop 2000 Zaragoza All-around 2000 Zaragoza Team 2000 Zaragoza Hoop 2000 Zaragoza Ball 2000 Zaragoza Ribbon 2001 Geneva Hoop 2001 Geneva Ball 2001 Geneva Clubs 2002 Granada All-around 2002 Granada Team 2004 Kiev All-around 2004 Kiev Team 1999 Budapest Ribbon 2001 Geneva Rope 2006 Moscow All-around 1998 Porto Team 1999 Budapest Rope 2000 Zaragoza Rope European Team Championships 1999 Patras Team 2001 Riesa Team 2003 Moscow Team World Cup Final 2000 Glasgow Rope 2000 Glasgow Ball 2000 Glasgow Ribbon 2004 Moscow Hoop 2004 Moscow Ribbon 2000 Glasgow Hoop Grand Prix Final 1998 Linz All-around 1999 Korneuburg Hoop 1999 Korneuburg Ball 1999 Korneuburg Ribbon 2001 Deventer All-around 2001 Deventer Hoop 2001 Deventer Ball 1999 Korneuburg All-around 2001 Deventer Rope 2000 Deventer Ribbon Goodwill Games 1998 New York All-around 1998 New York Clubs 1998 New York Ribbon 1998 New York Hoop 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; 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.

Early life and career

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.

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.

(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.

At the 2001 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, Kabaeva won the Gold Medal for the Ball, Clubs, Hoop, Rope, the Individual All-Around, and the Team competitions. 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.

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.

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

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'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.

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]

Personal life

In July 2013 Kabaeva reported that she doesn't have children.^[15] By the reports of Neue Zurcher Zeting^[16] Alina Kabaeva delivered a baby in March 2015 at VIP-hospital of Saint Ann in Ticino, Switzerland.

Influence

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.^[17]

Achievements

• Youngest rhythmic gymnast to win the European Championships in 1998 Porto at 15 years of age.
• Kabaeva levels with Elena Karpuchina as one of the youngest Rhythmic Gymnast to win the All-Around World Championships in 1999 Osaka at 16 years old, until Yana Kudryavtseva of the Russian Federation broke the record winning the All-Around 2013 World Championships at 15 years of age.
• First to perform the backscale pivot.^[17]
• 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).
• Six time Russian National All-Around champion (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007).^[18]

Routine music information

Kabaeva at the 2001 World Championships

Kabaeva at 1999 European Championships

Detailed Olympic results

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alina Kabaeva.

• Alina Kabaeva at the International Federation of Gymnastics
• Alina Kabaeva Profile (Russian)
• Rhythmic Gymnastics Results
• Alina Kabaeva on Instagram
• Official website (Russian)
• Alina Kabaeva Biography and Olympic Results at Sports-Reference