VLADIMIR Putin’s Olympic lover sparked the fury of her gymnastics coach when she started dating the dictator, it has been claimed.

Alina Kabaeva, 42, is understood to have caught the eye of the then married Russian President while competing as a rhythmic gymnast.

She won gold at Athens in 2004 and became known as “Russia’s most flexible woman” before retiring with 18 World Championship medals.

Kabaeva even posed nude for a men’s magazine at the height of her success.

Putin, 72, has never confirmed the relationship nor reports they have two secret sons together. 

However, French journalist Celine Nony, author of Alina: Putin’s Secret Love, mentions that her sources, including a family member, confirmed that the relationship started in 2006, seven years before Putin publicly announced his separation from ex-wife Lyudmila.

Nony, who began covering rhythmic gymnastics for French title L’Equipe, also claims the relationship angered Alina’s gymnastics coach, Irina Viner.

Viner was mysteriously removed from her role as head of Russia’s rhythmic gymnastics earlier this year following a feud with Kabaeva.

And Nony, once kicked out of a gym by Viner for writing a negative story about her, has sensationally shed light on their fallout.

Nony, who resided in Moscow from 1996 to 1998, shared with The Sun, “Alina established a new gymnastics school and was involved in ousting her coach, Irina.

“Irina was more than a coach – she was a second mother during her career. Now it’s been around 10 years that she’s been out of the limelight.

“Their first encounter was after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, as she was among the medalists, and, like all Russian medalists, they were welcomed at the Kremlin.

“During that visit, Vladimir Putin awarded all the medalists, and it was notable because Alina was expected to win the Olympics, but after a mistake, she placed third.

“That was their initial meeting. There were subsequent opportunities for them to meet, but always at official events since Alina’s coach, Irina, was married to Alisher Usmanov, who was almost the wealthiest man in the country at that time.

“The beginning of their relationship was nearly at the end of her career in 2006.”

Nony described Alina as “smiley but also tough”.

She said: “She is beautiful. Even as a journalist, it was always easy to speak with her.

“Putin is fond of sports, he practiced judo and genuinely values athletes. She was considered the nation’s little princess, even more so after securing gold in 2004.

“A rap group even wrote a song called Alina. She took part in many television shows. She was the one who everybody in Russia wanted to have as a daughter, as a grandchild and as a friend. 

“It’s crazy to say it but I’m sure she really fell in love with him. I spoke with people at that time.

“Even Irina disagreed with this relationship, even if she introduced her to him. It was not her idea, this kind of relationship between them. 

“She was surprised that they really fell in love. Irina spoke about this to one of my friends.

“Alina also spoke to some of her friends within rhythmic gymnastics, which I know having worked in the sport too.”

She added: “She introduced her pupils to oligarchs.

“Most of the ex rhythmic gymnasts are now the wives of an oligarch, so I’m not sure what the problem was.

“But maybe she thought it was too much. 

“I don’t have a good relationship with Irina because of a story I wrote about her around 15 years ago.

“She pushed me out of the gym. The story was about how, thanks to her husband’s money, she would sometimes pay judges to get results.

“I spoke to judges and they told me it was true they received money from her to put the Russians in first place.”

According to reports, Alina’s new gymnastics school, Sky Grace, sparked a power struggle with Irina.

The Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation was then dissolved to form a new body with Irina playing no role in it, reports BBC.

When the story was published about the relationship with Putin, she really changed. She disappeared in the country. Nobody could see her

Celine NonyAuthor of Alina: Putin’s Secret Love

Since rumours of her relationship with Putin emerged, Kabaeva fell out of the limelight until recently.

But it’s widely reported she lives a life of extreme luxury in a secret mansion with Putin’s rumoured sons.

Nony was able to confirm this – and said Putin showered her family with gifts including luxury properties.

Nony recalls: “When the story was published about the relationship with Putin, she really changed. 

“She was the girl next door, she was the princess of the country. She was everywhere, very smiley and very friendly.

“And after that story she disappeared in the country. Nobody could see her. It was not possible anymore to get an interview with her.”

She added: “I knew that she was living in Valdai, which is a presidential house in the north of the country near Saint Petersburg, with their children. I’m not sure how many.

“A big surprise was when I discovered that the mother of Alina and the sister received apartments and houses in the richest parts of the country. 

“The grandmother, who is now 90 years old, received two houses in Rublevka, which is a place where all the oligarchs have houses and even Putin has a house in this place, near Moscow. 

“The she received another big apartment in Saint Petersburg. And another one, a luxurious apartment in Sochi.

“Three levels, an art gallery, a place for the helicopter and so on. Officially she is the owner of these places.” 

In 2008, the Moscow newspaper that reported Putin’s romance with Kabaeva, Moskovsky Korrespondent, was shut down.

Its reporting also claimed Putin has secretly divorced, before it issued an apology.

The outlet’s publishers claimed it was a commercial decision, but it was met with widespread suspicion.

Putin later told journalists to keep their “snotty noses” out of his private life. 

Nony, who has been working at L’Equipe for 29 years, has been advised not to enter Russia since the publication of her book.

She said: “I spoke with one of my friends in Russia who helped me with the book. I asked him if he really wanted to help me.

“He told me that his father was part of the KGB so it was not a problem.

“Then I asked him, ‘could it be dangerous for me?’

“We decided together that because I was a French journalist living in France, it was not dangerous.

“But I decided, and so did L’Equipe, that I would not come back to Russia. I don’t want to risk anything.”