KABAEVA Alina Russia Discipline: Rhythmic			Last update: 05/09/2011
Status:	Retired
Licence No.:	00002511
Date of birth:	12/05/1983	Age:	30
Gender:	Female
Height:	166 cm/5.4 ft	Weight:	50 kg/99.2 lb
Place of birth:	TASHKENT ()
Hometown:	MOSCOW (RUS)
Marital status:
Children:	0 boys 0 girls
Occupation:	Athlete
Languages Spoken:	R-E
Start Discipline (year):	1987
First Int. Competition (year):	2004
National Team Since (year):	2004
Current Club:	GAZPROM
Location:
Head coach:	VINER IRINA (RUS)
Assistant coach:	SHATALINA VERA (RUS)
Choreographer:	SHATKOVA VERONIKA (RUS)
Music Selections Discipline Type Title Author Intepreter
Personal website / fan page:	http://www.	Facebook page:
Twitter account:		Other Social media account:
Creation date:	2000-03-15
More about KABAEVA Alina:
One of the most decorated gymnasts in Rhythmic history finally earned the supreme honour in 2004 : an Olympic all-aroud title ! Back in 1998, her victory at the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Portugal was for the majority of the people"out of the blue". 15 year old Kabaeva was the youngest member of the Russian squad, competing alongside her internationally recognised team- mates Yanina Batyrchina and Amina Zaripovan and this was only her fifth international competition. Alina took up Rhythmic Gymnastics in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Her father being a professional football player, the family was always following him to different places in Uzbekistan, Kasakhstan and Russia. This is why Alina has changed many coaches, but quite surprisingly none of them seemed to consider her a gymnast of any particular talent. Alina?s mother brought her to be seen by the world-recognised coach Irina Viner in Moscow. " I could not believe my eyes, when I first saw her", says Viner." The girl has the rare combination of two qualities crucial in Rhythmic Gymnastics- flexibility and jumping ability." All efforts of Viner and Kabaeva paid off. In 1999 Alina became European Champion for the second consecutive time and stole the World title in Osaka. She went on winning a total of 5 all around at the European Championships (last one in Kiev, June 2004) and added another World title in Budapest 2003. At the Sydney Olympic 2000, no one doubted in her winning the gold medal until, on her second performance, the most unexpected thing happened. Alina dropped her hoop and ran to retrieve it outside the competition area. She might have won"only" bronze in Australia, but she won, once again, people's admiration by admitting that "Gold is not for those who make mistakes", and with her relaxed, cheerful attitude after the competition. Revenge was set for 2004. Her last major titles were the World Cup Final trophies awarded in Moscow in December 2004. Then she retired from competition. Alina wil be remembered as one of the most talentuous gymnasts ever in the history of Rhythmic Gymnastics. FIG - June 2005