Fact Check: Viral video does not feature three generations of Russian gymnasts from same family

Hyderabad: A video of three gymnasts is being shared on social media with the claim it shows three generations of Russian gymnasts—grandmother, mother, and daughter—performing together.

A Facebook user shared the video with the claim, “What a pedigree! Three generations of Russian Gymnasts performing together. Grandmother, mother and daughter. The tallest one is the grandmother !!! (sic)”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false.

At the beginning of the viral video, an on-screen text identified the three Russian gymnasts as Aigul Shaikhutdinova, Ekaterina Stroynova, and Ekaterina Loginov. Taking this as a cue, we ran a relevant keyword search and came across an extended version of the video published on YouTube in a post titled ‘Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships 2010 - Russia Women’s Group 1st Place.’

We found the same video in a report published by The Hits, a New Zealand-based radio station, on March 3, 2015. It identified the three Russian gymnasts as Aigul Shaikhutdinova, Ekaterina Stroynova, and Ekaterina Loginov and mentioned that the Russian gymnastics team won the most medals in the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships. It is important to note that this report does not mention any familial relation between the three.

Further, we found the names and details of three gymnasts listed on the website of the Russian Sports Acrobatics Federation.

According to the records, Shaikhutdinova, Stroynova and Loginov in rows 41, 42, and 43 were born in 1994, 1987 and 1985 respectively. The age difference confirmed that they could not be related as grandmother, mother, and daughter.

During our investigation, we found that the video also went viral in 2017, with social media users claiming the same. AFP had debunked the claim that the three gymnasts don’t come from the same family.

Hence, we conclude that the claim of the three gymnasts being the grandmother, mother, and daughter is false.