It is always alone that Vladimir Putin persists in waging war on Ukraine, even though economic sanctions have hit Russia. The divisive president would not, however, be a lonely man since he is credited with a story of a romance with Alina Kabaeva. But would she be able to reason with him? Not sure… A refugee in Switzerland, she plays it discreet. Little known to the general public, she nevertheless led a fine career as a gymnast.
The website of Guardian looked at the story and journey of Alina Kabaeva in 2007. As a child, she was forced to leave her country of birth, Uzbekistan, to follow a sports training in Russia. She was then cared for by Irina Viner, described by our colleagues as “one of the toughest gymnastics coaches of the Soviet era“. And this one did not really go with dead hands with Alina, judging her too big to become a top athlete. It was in a training center in Moscow that she was going to have undergone the worse to the young sportswoman: for three days, she will only have access to water! Not a crumb of food to put in your mouth. And the threats are serious. “If you don’t lose weight, I’ll rip your fat off with my own hands“, she would have let go.
Very traumatized by this experience, Alina Kabaeva had the opportunity to speak on the subject. “I was so hungry that I begged her to eat. I used to drive myself crazy thinking about my grandmother’s pancakes“, she said then. Finally, her terrible and torturer coach had ended up giving her to eat, “a spoonful of dried apricots, walnuts and raisins in the morning“to continue with”a 10 hour training day.“Years later, Alina – who is said to be pregnant despite having already had two children with Vladimir Putin – has become a star of her profession. She is an Olympic champion, double world champion, won the European title at five consecutive times, as well as six times that of Russia…