JAKARTA - Alina Kabaeva, a gymnast who is said to be the mistress of Russian President Vladimir Putin, lost the gold medal at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in 2001. The medal was handed over to a rival athlete from Ukraine.
Kabaeva and team mate Irina Tchachina lost their medals in individual and group events at the 2001 tournament after testing positive for a banned diuretic that forced a change in the leaderboard.
The test had been carried out a few months earlier at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, and led to Ukraine securing individual all-around gold and Belarus then advancing to silver and Bulgaria taking bronze.
Kabaeva and Tchachina were convicted of using furosemide and disqualified for two years. On returning to the 2002 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, Kabaeva won the individual all-around.
Kabaeva, who went on to secure all-around gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, ended her career in 2007 after winning the World Championships in Patras, Greece.
Previously, the success in Athens made Kabaeva's name soar. He then set off a storm in Russia after posing naked for Maxim, a Russian men's magazine, that same year.
The photographer who photographed Kabaeva at the time, Mikhail Korolov, said: “I didn't even have to persuade her. She poses very naturally. He's full of sex drive."
Claims of a romantic relationship between Putin and Kabaeva himself surfaced to the public in 2008. The news was published in a newspaper owned by Putin's former KGB espionage partner, Alexander Lebedev.
Lebedev's newspaper has now been closed citing financial difficulties. However, one of the sources from the newspaper claims that the close relationship between Putin and Kabaeva is true.
Meanwhile, Putin was also quick to deny the claims. However, more reports emerged after that saying that Kabaeva was pregnant.
Kabaeva has opened up about rumors involving her with Putih on many occasions. Then in 2014 he said that anyone has the right to keep a little secret to himself.
“Everyone should have their own little secret. I hope that one day the gossipers will calm down," Kabaeva was quoted as saying by the Daily Star.
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