Get to know more about Alina Zagitova who is from Russia and a skater. below are facts about her that you need to know including her net worth.
Alina Zagitova: skater and gold medalist
The most unhappy country in the recently concluded 2018 Olympic Winter Games was Russia. The country is on the northeast side of Europe and during winter, all the country is usually covered by snow. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that most of the games there are related to snow and there are many Russian athletes who have built their reputation from the winter games, and when they were banned from the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, it was a huge blow. But not all Russian athletes were banned and one of them who was allowed to compete was Alina Zagitova, a figure skater. She managed to win a gold medal, but it was painful for her to stand on the podium and listen to other music instead of her country’s national anthem and watch the Russian flag being raised higher than the other two flags. Zagitova wished she could celebrate her motherland. 15-year-old Alina Zagitova was born in Izhevsk, Udmurtia and her parents are Leysan Zagitova and Ignaz Zagitova who is an ice hockey coach that works in Tatarstan. Zagitova also has a sister who is younger than her. A story is told of her not having a name for a year when her parents were looking for a name to give to her and settled on Alina after they watched the rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva. The skater went with her grandmother to Moscow in 2015 and she still lives with her. Zagitova’s hobby has been drawing since she was a child. In an interview, Zagitova revealed that she loves pet animals and she had two exotic chinchillas at her Moscow home as well as a dog and a cat. Zagitova had her first formal skating lessons when she was four alongside Damira Pichugina in Tatarstan where her father was working as a hockey coach. The family moved back to her birthplace, Izhevsk, in 2008 where she joined DYUSSH Izhevsk club and trained under the watch of coaches Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov. She’s currently at Sambo 70 club. Her first competition was the 2016 Russian Junior Championships where she finished 9th after being placed 12th in the short program and on number 8 in the free skate. Her debut in the international competitions came in the middle of 2016 after she attended the 2016-17 Junior Grand Prix Final championship in France where she won the gold medal and beat Kaori Sakamoto with a total score of 194.37 points. The points were the second highest to have ever been achieved by a women’s single skater on the junior level, the highest being by Polina Tsurskaya. In her second Grand Prix championship in Slovenia, she took a bronze medal behind Rika Kihira and Marin Honda, both from Japan. The results allowed her to be part of the 2017-18 Grand Prix Final championships that was held in Marseille. Zagitova went back to France again and in the 2017-18 Grand Prix Final championships, she managed to score new junior women records in all the categories. The Russian skater was awarded the gold medal after scoring a total of 207.43 points, over 13 points above another Russian skater and the silver medalist, Anastasiia Gubanova and she became the first junior lady in history to have a total score of over 200 marks. Then in late December 2017, Zagitova ranked number three in the short and number two in the free at the 2017 Russian Championships. The skater managed to win a silver medal behind Evgenia Medvedeva who she trains with. She is also the 2018 European champion after she won a gold medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival that was held in Turkey.
Winning a gold medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games
It was probably the best day of the 15-year-old Alina Zagitova. She had the opportunity to stand on the middle of a podium. The skater was the new queen of figure skating, but it wasn’t a great honor to represent a nation that had been shamed. Alina Zagitova is a Russian, a country that supposedly does not exist in the eyes of the Olympics officials. The country was punished for its doping sins, but the ax man spared 168 Russian competitors who were described as Olympic Athletes from Russia rather than The Russian team. They couldn’t wear the traditional red uniform, no tricolor flag and no national anthem and flag to celebrate their victories. For 13 days, the Russians only saw the gold medals with their eyes and the closest some of them came was the silver medal and the bronze medal. That meant they wouldn’t feel the pain of their national anthem not being played but when Alina Zagitova got the first gold medals in the ‘Russian Team,” in a harsh and freezing night, she had to share her jubilation on her heart as the national anthem of her country could not cut through the night to the ears of their Russian fans and Zagitova was not able to express her national pride. With a gold medal hanging on Alina Zagitova’s neck, the 2018 European champion and 2017-18 Grand Prix Final champion stood tall and on her right was her teammate, Medvedeva and on the left a Canadian bronze medalist Kaetlyn Osmond. The announcer sank her spirits by when he announced the Olympic anthem. Even though Zagitova knew it would happen, she hoped that they would forgive her country and play the anthem just once. But to her disappointment, the Olympic body doesn’t fall from its rules. As the song played, the officials raised three flags. One was Canadian as the rest were Olympic flags for the two Russians. Medvedeva faked a smile, but Zagitova didn’t even dare to. She only sneered after the music was over and many noted that she wasn’t happy.
The internet had mixed reactions about Alina Zagitova winning the gold
Alina Zagitova had a jump-filled routine that most of the spectators considered breathtaking. They compared it to her counterpart’s emotional performance to the soundtrack of the movie “Anna Karenina.” However, some people pointed out that Zagitova’s performance was loaded with lots of significant jumps and feats. They thought that she did that conserve her energy for the second half of the program and as usual, social media couldn’t keep silent and there were a lot of opinions of her after she won a gold medal. Some people were excited about how 2018 Olympic Winter Games figure skating champion who is also a 2018 European champion and former member of DYUSSH Izhevsk currently in Sambo 70. However, there were some who thought that the silver medalist Evgenia Medvedeva deserved the gold medal. Some fans defended the way Zagitova decided to choreograph her figure skating routine after some people criticized her. Others felt that the skater, who is a 2017-18 Grand Prix Final champion, was repeating history by balancing athleticism and artistry argument. But one thing is sure, both athletes performed very well. Evgenia Medvedeva had broken down to tears as the crowd roared behind her in one of the biggest moment in her entire figure skating career. A few moments later, it was announced that she had scored exactly like her rival and also training mate, Alina Zagitova, and the crowd yelled in anger and confusion. She was one point short of winning a gold medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Both Zagitova and Medvedeva train under one coach, Eteri Tutberidze. Before the former member of DYUSSH Izhevsk and the current member of Sambo 70 club Alina Zagitova joined the senior division as a skater, her teammate reigned as the number one champion. Upon coming in, Zagitova did the impossible by beating Medvedeva. It was clear that there would be a rivalry in the camp and the media started comparing it with Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski in “I, Tonya.” Even though they call themselves friends off the ice, Medvedeva was saddened by the fact the gold medal was so close, but she saw it go away with Zagitova.
Facts to know about the skater and her net worth
She doesn’t have many friends
Ice skating, especially figure skating, can be an isolating sport since it requires a lot of time. According to Russia Beyond, Alina Zagitova said that she has few friends and the good thing was she was seeing some people constantly in figure skating and in the sport, they are rivals. When you watch Zagitova perform you might forget that she is just 15. Whenever she has free time, Zagitova loves to watch American TV shows and play with her pets which include two chinchillas, a cat, and a dog. Alina Zagitova doesn’t live with her parents or sister as she left them in their hometown to train in Moscow. However, she visits them at least once every two months.
She has set records
Even though the skater has enjoyed a short career in figure skating, she has already broken records. Alina Zagitova was the first female junior skater to score over 200 points and she went ahead to set the junior ladies’ shot program record as well as the record for the free program at the junior-level as well as the record for the combined total at the 2017-18 Grand Prix Final championship junior-level events. Zagitova has also achieved the highest ever recorded technical score of 158 in the figure skating at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
She began skating when she was seven
Alina Zagitova stepped on the ice rather early. She was just seven when she first skated. In an interview, the skater revealed that it was in her character that the more difficult it was, the better it was for her. She sacrificed her time with her figure skating family to practice, and when she was 13, she rented an apartment with her grandma in Moscow to train under a new coach in Sambo 70 and left the DYUSSH Izhevsk team.
Her net worth
Alina Zagitova’s net worth is still under review, but in the short time she has been figure skating, the skater has made a decent net worth. Zagitova also makes a net worth from endorsements and championships like the 2018 European championship.
Looking to the future
Even though she is in a sport that makes it hard to make friends, Zagitova has her coach to share her problems with as well as her pets to check on and spend time with. Watch out for her and witness her winning more medals.
