An Olympic Judo Champion 'Floored' Putin

Putin’s Valentine’s Day training partner ended up flooring him during a sparring session. –

After sharing the mat and warming up with a few judo moves, the two began their sparring session, each throwing the other to the mat in turn, which led to reports that she was the “woman who floored Putin”.

“Thanks to president Putin, that after such hard talks at the summit, he found time for a full-blown quality training session!” She wrote on Instagram, with pictures of the two together. “It was a pleasure to spar once again with our country’s premier judoka!”

Kuziutina is a native of Bryansk, close to Russia’s border with Belarus and Ukraine, and is currently training with the Russian judo team in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.