The Fifth Floor: Russia’s gymnastic drama

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The head of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation has recently fallen from glory. Irina Viner has been the most powerful person in the sport for nearly 20 years, and has produced multiple world champions. But her reign is finally over, as the Ministry of Sport recently dissolved the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation to create a new gymnastics body in which Irina Viner has no part. Meanwhile, another name in Russian rhythmic gymnastics is back in the spotlight. A previous student of Irina Viner, Alina Kabaeva won the Olympic gold for rhythmic gymnastics in 2004. She is one of the most successful gymnasts in Russia but has always avoided the media gaze. This seems to have changed since creating her own rhythmic gymnastics school, ‘Heavenly Grace’. Alina Kabaeva has long been reported to be the partner of Vladimir Putin and it seems her gymnastics school enjoys a special status.

Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Caroline Ferguson, Hannah Dean and Alice Gioia.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:07.7	This is the fifth floor.
0:11.5	The fifth floor, you knowsson.
0:15.6	This is the fifth floor at Farnak Amidi Sobath. This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world.
0:28.9	I'm your host, Faranak Amidi.
0:35.6	It's the falling from glory story of Irina Vinner, the woman who's been at the helm of producing
0:42.5	world-class Russian rhythmic gymnasts. For years, Russia has dominated the sport, winning multiple
0:50.0	Olympic goals and world championships. Viner, a woman with a fearsome reputation, has been leading the Russian athletes through
0:58.7	their success for over two decades.
1:01.5	But it seems her reign has come to an end.
1:03.9	As last year, the Ministry of Sport dissolved the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation
1:09.5	to create a new gymnastics body in which
1:12.7	Irina Vinner has no part. I spoke to Lisa Ford of BBC Russian, who has been looking into
1:19.3	the story. She started by telling me who exactly this woman is.
1:23.6	Irina Vinner is probably one of the most famous sports figures in Russia.
1:28.1	She's 76 years old, has a lot of experience.
1:31.7	She's basically being in control of Russian rhythmic gymnastics for more than 20 years.
1:37.3	And she managed to reach this absolute domination within Russia and on a international arena too.
1:43.6	She's really a legendary coach. Everyone in
1:46.8	Russia knows who she is. She's been a member of the Russian elite for a very long time. She's
1:53.4	been Putin, Vladimir Putin's campaign surrogate multiple times, took part in his campaign,
1:58.0	openly supported him, even after 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
	...

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