Kabaeva is one of the most decorated gymnasts in rhythmic gymnastic history, with 2 Olympic medals , 14 World Championship medals , and 21 European Championship medals. She is reportedly the longtime partner of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In September , Kabaeva became the chairwoman of the board of directors of the National Media Group [ ru ]. Kabaeva started rhythmic gymnastics at age three, with coach Margarita Samuilovna.
In her early teens, Kabaeva moved to Moscow, where her mother took her to the Russian head coach, Irina Viner. Kabaeva stayed with Viner, and made her international debut representing Russia in The year-old Kabaeva won the European Championships in Portugal. At the time, she was the youngest member of the Russian squad, competing alongside internationally recognized teammates Amina Zaripova and Yana Batyrshina as well as Irina Tchachina. Kabaeva went on to win a total of 5 All-Around titles at the European Championships.
At the Sydney Olympics , in Australia, Kabaeva was expected to claim the gold medal in the all-around; however, due to an error in an otherwise clean performanceโshe dropped her hoop , and ran to retrieve it outside of the competition areaโKabaeva won the bronze medal, with the final score of Belarus's Yulia Raskina took the silver medal, while fellow Russian teammate, Yulia Barsukova , won the Olympic gold medal.
However, Kabaeva and her teammate, Irina Tchachina , tested positive to a banned diuretic furosemide , and were stripped of their medals. 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", that contained mild diuretics, which, according to Viner, the gymnasts were taking for premenstrual syndrome. When the supply ran out shortly before the Goodwill Games, the team physiotherapist restocked at a local pharmacy.
