title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2002 Hadid won an international competition for her first project in China. The Guangzhou Opera House is located in a new business district of the city, with a new 103-storey glass tower behind it. It covers 70,000 square metres and was built at cost of US$300 million. The complex comprises an 1,800-seat theatre, a multipurpose theatre, entry hall, and salon. A covered pathway with restaurants and shops separates the two main structures. This building, like several of her later buildings, was inspired by natural earth forms; the architect herself referred to it as the "two pebbles". It appears akin to two giant smooth-edged boulders faced with 75,000 panels of polished granite and glass. Edwin Heathcote, writing for the "Financial Times", noted Hadid's concentration on how her design could transform the urban landscape of Guangzhou, as the building rose as the centre of the new business area. He wrote in 2011 that Hadid "produced a building that seems to suck the surrounding landscape into a vortex of movement and swirling space... appears both as alien object in a landscape of incomprehensible vastness (and often overwhelming banality), and as an extrusion of the peculiar nature of this landscape." Nicolai Ourousoff, architecture critic of the "New York Times", wrote that "stepping into the main hall is like entering the soft insides of an oyster...The concave ceiling is pierced by thousands of little lights—it looks like you're sitting under the dome of a clear night sky." Ourousoff noted that the finished building had construction problems: many of the granite tiles on the exterior had to be replaced, and the plaster and other interior work was poorly done by the inexperienced workers, but he praised Hadid's ability "to convey a sense of bodies in motion" and called the building "a Chinese gem that elevates its setting."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Riverside Museum (2004–2011), on the banks of the River Clyde Glasgow, Scotland, houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport. Hadid described the 10,000-square metre building, with 7,000 square metres of gallery space, as "a wave", "folds in movement", and "a shed in the form of a tunnel, open at the extreme ends, one end toward the city and the other toward the Clyde." Like many of her buildings, the whole form is only perceived when viewed from above. The facades are covered with zinc plates, and the roofline has a series of peaks and angles. The interior galleries caused some controversy; visitors who came to see the collection of historic automobiles found that they are mounted on the walls, high overhead, so it is impossible to look into them. Rowan Moore of "The Guardian" of London wrote: "Obviously the space is about movement...Outside it is, typologically, a supermarket, being a big thing in a parking lot that is seeking to attract you in...It has enigma and majesty, but not friendliness."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid described her Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as "inspired by the fluid geometry of water in movement". The building covers three swimming pools, and seats 17,500 spectators at the two main pools. The roof, made of steel and aluminium and covered with wood on the inside, rests on just three supports; it is in the form of a parabolic arch that dips in the centre, with the two pools at either end. The seats are placed in bays beside the curving and outward-leaning walls of glass. At £269 million, the complex cost three times the original estimate, owing principally to the complexity of the roof. This was the subject of much comment when it was constructed, and it was the first 2012 Olympic building begun but the last to be finished. It was praised by architecture critics. Rowan Moore of "The Guardian" said that the roof "floats and undulates" and called the centre "the Olympics' most majestic space".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Hadid's second project in the United States, has a space of 4,274 square metres, dedicated to contemporary art and modern art and an historical collection. The parallelogram-shaped building leans sharply and seems about to tip over. Hadid wrote that she designed the building so that its sloping pleated stainless steel facades would reflect the surrounding neighbourhood from different angles; the building continually changes colour depending upon the weather, the time of day and the angle of the sun. As Hadid commented, the building "awakens curiosity without ever truly revealing its contents". Elaine Glusac of "The New York Times" wrote that the architecture of the new museum "radicalizes the streetscape". The Museum was used in a scene of the 2016 Batman vs. Superman movie.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Many of Hadid's later major works are found in Asia. The Galaxy SOHO in Beijing, China (2008–2012) is a combination of offices and a commercial centre in the heart of Beijing with a total of 332,857 square metres, composed of four different ovoid glass-capped buildings joined by multiple curving passageways on different levels. Hadid explained, "the interior spaces follow the same coherent formal logic of continual curvilinearity." The complex, like most of her buildings, gives the impression that every part of them is in motion.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (2007–2013) is a gigantic cultural and conference centre containing three auditoriums, a library and museum, with a total space of 10,801 square metres on a surface of 15,514 square metres, and a height of 74 metres. Hadid wrote that "its fluid form emerges from the folds of the natural topography of the landscape and envelops the different functions of the centre", though the building when completed was largely surrounded by Soviet-era apartment blocks. Peter Cook in "Architectural Review" called it "a white vision, outrageously total, arrogantly complete ... a unique object that confounds and contradicts the reasonable ... a wave form sweeping up, almost lunging, into the sky ... here is architecture as the ultimate statement of theatre ... It is the most complete realisation yet of the Iraqi-born architect's vision of sweeping curves and flowing space."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Consisting of eight storeys, the centre includes an auditorium with 1000 seats, exhibition space, conference hall, workshop and a museum. No straight line was used in the project of the complex. The shape of the building is wave-like and the overall view is unique and harmonic. Such an architectural structure stands for post-modernist architecture and forms oceanic feeling. The lines of the building symbolise the merging of past and future.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: While the building itself was widely praised, Dame Zaha was criticized in many circles when she was awarded Britain's most prestigious prize in architecture, the Design Museum "Design of the Year," the first woman to do so. The building was named for the former ruler of Azerbaijan,


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Heydar Aliyev, and commissioned by his son, Illham, who became president after his father's death in 2003. Hugh Williamson, director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and the Central Asian division, called Aliyev "an authoritarian leader and so is his son." The former Soviet secret police general ruled for 30 years, first as its Communist leader and then as its president. Amnesty International accused him of human rights abuses, balloting irregularities and intimidating the opposition while in power. Several architecture critics who admired the work itself felt that Dame Zaha should have raised questions about this repressive leader even as she accepted the commission, and other critics questioned the UK granting its most prestigious architecture award to a building which memorialized a vicious Soviet dictator.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (2007–2013) is among the largest buildings in Seoul, South Korea. Its name means "Great Gate of the East", in reference to the old walls of the city. The complex of 86,574 square metres contains exhibition space, a museum of design, conference rooms and other common facilities, as well as the bureaux and a marketplace for designers which is open 24 hours a day. The main building is 280 metres long with seven levels, including three levels underground. The smooth-skinned, giant mushroom-like structure floating atop sloping pylons is made of concrete, aluminium, steel and stone on the exterior, and finished inside with plaster reinforced with synthetic fibre, acoustic tiles, acrylic resin, and stainless steel and polished stone on the interior. Hadid wrote that the principal characteristics of her design were "transparency, porousness, and durability." It also features many ecological features, including a double skin, solar panels, and a system for recycling water.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Library and Learning Center was designed as the centrepiece of the new University of Economics in Vienna. Containing 28,000 square metres of space, its distinctive Hadid features include walls sloping at 35 degrees and massive black volume cantilevered at an angle over the plaza in front of the building. She described the interior as follows: "The straight lines of the building's exterior separate as they move inward, becoming curvilinear and fluid to generate a free-formed interior canyon that serves as the principal public plaza of the Center, as well as generating corridors and bridges ensuring smooth transitions between different levels."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Serpentine Sackler Gallery is a synthesis of two distinct parts – the 19th century classical brick structure named The Magazine (a former gunpowder store), and a 21st-century tensile structure. This is the second art space (after the MAXII Museum in Rome) where Zaha Hadid Architects worked on the melding of both old and new elements. Zaha Hadid's Magazine extension on the original Grade II building was aided by the reinstatement of the building to an historic arrangement as a free-standing pavilion within an enclosure, with the former courtyards covered. The North Gallery extension features Hadid's distinct hallmark of curves, and houses a series of skylights which welcome natural light into the space as well as retractable blinds when less light is needed. Hadid also worked in collaboration with architect and heritage specialist Liam O'Connor, whose reconstructions and conversions of the original space were designed in consultation with English Heritage and Westminster City Council. The extension houses internal exhibition spaces as well as the museum shop and offices for the curatorial team.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Innovation Tower in Hong Kong (2007–2014) is part of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The building of 15 floors has 15,000 square metres of space, with laboratories, classrooms, studios and other facilities for 1,800 students and their faculty. It was built on the site of the university's former football pitch. The extremely complex forms of the building required computer modelling. Early designs experimented with a facade made of reinforced plastic, textiles or aluminium, but Hadid finally settled upon metal panels with multiple layers. The building seems to lean towards the city. The floors inside are visible from the exterior like geological strata.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Wangjing SOHO tower in Beijing is the second building Hadid designed for the major Chinese property developer, located half-way between the centre of Beijing and the airport. The towers slope and curve; Hadid compared them to Chinese fans, "whose volumes turn one around the other in a complex ballet." The tallest building is 200 metres high, with two levels of shops and 37 levels of offices. A single atrium level three storeys high joins the three buildings at the base.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre are two skyscrapers in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Tower 1 is 314.5 metres (1,032 ft) tall and Tower 2 is 255 metres (837 ft). Construction began in 2012 and ended in 2015.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Issam Fares Institute is located in the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB). It won the Agha Khan Award in 2016, the same year Hadid passed away. It has a 21 meters cantilever in order to preserve the existing landscape. The institute aims to harness, develop and initiate research of the Arab world to enhance and broaden debate on public policy and international relations. It is currently headed by Joseph Bahout


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Of all her works, Hadid designed only one government building, the Port Authority Building, or Havenhuis, in Antwerp, Belgium, completed in 2016. Most new government buildings attempt to express solidity and seriousness, but Port Authority, a ship-like structure of glass and steel on a white concrete perch, seems to have landed atop the old port building constructed in 1922. The faceted glass structure also resembles a diamond, a symbol of Antwerp's role as the major market of diamonds in Europe. It was one of the last works of Hadid, who died in 2016, the year it opened. The square in front of the building was renamed to Zaha Hadidplein (Zaha Hadidsquare) to honor her death.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: On 31 March 2016, Hadid died, at the age of 65, of a heart attack at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, where she was being treated for bronchitis.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The statement issued by her London-based design studio announcing her death read: "Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today". She is buried between her father Mohammed Hadid and brother Foulath Hadid in Brookwood Cemetery in Brookwood, Surrey, England. In her will she left £67m, and bequeathed various amounts to her business partner and family members. Her international design businesses, which accounted for the bulk of her wealth, were left in trust.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The first major project to be completed shortly after her death was the Salerno Maritime Terminal in Salerno, Italy, her first major transportation building. She won the competition for the building in 2000, but then the project was delayed due to funding and technical issues. Hadid scouted the site from a police boat in the harbour to visualise how it would appear from the water. The final building covers 50,000 square feet and cost 15 million Euros. Paola Cattarin, the project architect who completed the building after Hadid's death, said, "We thought of the building as an oyster, with a hard shell top and bottom, and a softer, liquid, more organic interior." At the opening of the new building, posters of Hadid were placed around the city, saying, "Goodbye Zaha Hadid; Genius and Modernity, Inspiration and Transformation, Light That Takes Shape."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Scorpion Tower of Miami, now known as One Thousand Museum, was started while Hadid was still alive though currently undergoing completion posthumously. It is noted by its curved external columns standing the full length of the building. Its twin Scorpion Tower has also been built in Dubai.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: On 25 March 2017, Kam Dhillon reported a yet-to-be completed skyscraper design designed by Hadid prior to her death in 2016 in an article titled "Zaha Hadid Architects Unveils Monumental Skyscraper Project for NYC".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: A futuristic building, faithful to the imprint of the architect, which should host the biggest cultural events of the Moroccan capital. The works, launched in October 2014, are still in progress. This project consists of a large multipurpose room, which has 1822 seats and can accommodate different types of shows. For each artistic presentation with specific acoustics needs, the theater will be equipped with adjustable systems. The theater also has a small modular room with 127 seats, a restaurant with panoramic views, shops, cafes and a bookstore.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Navi Mumbai International Airport is yet to be constructed and the first phase is set to open in 2024.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The complex of three 31-storey residential towers neighbouring Bratislava city centre is still under construction. Part of the construction area includes a preserved historical waterworks building designed by one of the most influential Slovak architects of early 20th century – Dušan Jurkovič.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Mercury Tower is the tallest building in Malta. The Tower is 122 metres (400 ft) tall, with 32 floors of mixed residential and hotel space. The most iconic feature of the building is the twisted area between levels 9 and 11 that will provide its distinctive appearance.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In the 1990s, she held the Sullivan Chair professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago's [[University of Illinois at Chicago College of Architecture and the Arts|[school of architecture]. At various times, she served as guest professor at the [[Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg]] (HFBK Hamburg), the [[Austin Eldon Knowlton|Knowlton]] School of Architecture at [[Ohio State University]], the Masters Studio at [[Columbia University]], and was the [[Eero Saarinen]] Visiting professor of Architectural Design at the [[Yale School of Architecture]]. From 2000, Hadid was a guest professor at the Institute of Architecture at the [[University of Applied Arts Vienna]], in the Zaha Hadid Master Class Vertical-Studio.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid also undertook some high-profile interior work, including the "Mind Zone" at the [[Millennium Dome]] in London as well as creating fluid furniture installations within the [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] surroundings of Home House private members club in Marylebone, and the Z.CAR hydrogen-powered, three-wheeled automobile, amongst many other designs.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2006, Zaha Hadid founded Zaha Hadid Design (ZHD); her eponymous design studio. Experimenting, testing and implementing the latest technological and material advancements, ZHD’s portfolio is built on over 40 years of research expressed at different scales and typologies encompassing lighting, furniture, fashion accessories, jewellery, interiors, exhibitions, and set-design.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In addition to a number of different designs and collections produced under its own label, ZHD continues to successfully collaborate with some of the world’s most reputable brands, creatives and design professionals to conceive and develop limited-edition pieces and ad-hoc commissions.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2007, Hadid designed Dune Formations for David Gill Gallery and the Moon System Sofa for leading Italian furniture manufacturer [[B&B Italia]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2009 she worked with the clothing brand [[Lacoste]] to create a new, high fashion, and advanced boot. In the same year, she also collaborated with the brassware manufacturer Triflow Concepts to produce two new designs in her signature parametric architectural style.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2013, Hadid designed Liquid Glacial for David Gill Gallery which comprises a series of tables resembling ice-formations made from clear and coloured acrylic. Their design embeds surface complexity and refraction within a powerful fluid dynamic. The collection was further extended in 2015–2016. In 2016 the gallery launched Zaha's final collection of furniture entitled UltraStellar


title: Zaha Hadid

text: ZHD now operates under the lead of Co-Directors Woody Yao and Maha Kutay who ensure consistency with the Founder’s ethos by continuing to coherently translate and apply Hadid’s methodological approach to any new design.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid established an architectural firm named [[Zaha Hadid Architects]] in New York. One of the notable buildings designed by this agency is the boutique pavilion of [[Il Makiage]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Following her death in March 2016, Michael Kimmelman of "[[The New York Times]]" wrote: "her soaring structures left a mark on skylines and imaginations and in the process re-shaped architecture for the modern age...Her buildings elevated uncertainty to an art, conveyed in the odd way of one entered and moved through these buildings and in the questions that her structures raised about how they were supported ... Hadid embodied, in its profligacy and promise, the era of so-called starchitects who roamed the planet in pursuit of their own creative genius, offering miracles, occasionally delivering." She is quoted as saying "I don't make nice little buildings".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Deyan Sudjic of "[[The Guardian]]" described Hadid as "an architect who first imagined, then proved, that space could work in radical new ways ... Throughout her career, she was a dedicated teacher, enthused by the energy of the young. She was not keen to be characterised as a woman architect, or an Arab architect. She was simply an architect."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In an interview published in Icon magazine, she said: "I never use the issue about being a woman architect ... but if it helps younger people to know they can break through the glass ceiling, I don't mind that." However, she admitted that she never really felt a part of the male-dominant architecture "establishment". She once said "As a woman in architect you're always an outsider. It's OK, I like being on the edge.'


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Sometimes called the "Queen of the curve", Hadid was frequently described in the press as the world's top female architect. although her work also attracted criticism. The [[Metropolitan Museum]] in New York cited her "unconventional buildings that seem to defy the logic of construction".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Her architectural language was described as "famously extravagant" and she was accused of building "dictator states". Architect Sean Griffiths characterised Hadid's work as "an empty vessel that sucks in whatever ideology might be in proximity to it".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: As the architect of a stadium to be used for the [[2022 FIFA World Cup]] in Qatar, Hadid was accused in "[[The New York Review of Books]]" of giving an interview in which she allegedly showed no concern for the deaths of [[migrant workers]] in Qatar involved in the project. In August 2014, Hadid sued "[[The New York Review of Books]]" for [[defamation]] and won. Immediately thereafter, the reviewer and author of the piece in which she was accused of showing no concern issued a retraction in which he said "work did not begin on the site for the Al Wakrah stadium, until two months after Ms Hadid made those comments; and construction is not scheduled to begin until 2015 ... There have been no worker deaths on the Al Wakrah project and Ms Hadid's comments about Qatar that I quoted in the review had nothing to do with the Al Wakrah site or any of her projects. I regret the error."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The architectural style of Hadid is not easily categorised, and she did not describe herself as a follower of any one style or school. Nonetheless, before she had built a single major building, she was categorised by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a major figure in architectural [[Deconstructivism]]. Her work was also described as an example of [[neo-futurism]] and [[parametricism]]. An article profiling Hadid in the "New Yorker" magazine was titled "The Abstractionist".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: At the time when technology was integrating into design, Zaha accepted the use of technology but still continued to hand draw her buildings and make models of the designs. This was because she did not want to limit herself and her designs to only to what the computer could do.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Through her design style, she paints the conceptual designs of her many projects in fluid and geometrical forms where "Zaha Hadid's work took shape." These would be large paintings that would aspire towards her design process and "rational nature of her construction, the drawings pulled the parts and pieces apart, exploding its site and programme."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: When she was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2004, the jury chairman, Lord Rothschild, commented: "At the same time as her theoretical and academic work, as a practising architect, Zaha Hadid has been unswerving in her commitment to modernism. Always inventive, she's moved away from existing typology, from high tech, and has shifted the geometry of buildings."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: The Design Museum described her work in 2016 as having "the highly expressive, sweeping fluid forms of [[Cubism#Architecture|multiple perspective]] points and [[Fractal|fragmented geometry]] that evoke the chaos and flux of modern life".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid herself, who often used dense architectural jargon, could also describe the essence of her style very simply: "The idea is not to have any 90-degree angles. In the beginning, there was the diagonal. The diagonal comes from the idea of the explosion which "re-forms" the space. This was an important discovery."


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid was appointed Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[2002 Birthday Honours]] and [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[2012 Birthday Honours]] for services to architecture.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Hadid was named an honorary member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] and an honorary [[American Institute of Architects|fellow of the American Institute of Architects]]. She was on the board of trustees of [[The Architecture Foundation]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2002, Hadid won the international design competition to design Singapore's [[one-north]] master plan. In 2004, Hadid became the first female recipient of the [[Pritzker Architecture Prize]]. In 2005, her design won the competition for the new city casino of [[Basel]], Switzerland and she was elected as a [[Royal Academician]]. In 2006, she was honoured with a retrospective spanning her entire work at the [[Guggenheim Museum in New York]]; that year she also received an Honorary Degree from the [[American University of Beirut]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2008, she was ranked 69th on the "[[Forbes]]" list of "[[The World's 100 Most Powerful Women]]". In 2010, she was named by "[[Time (magazine)|Time]]" as an influential thinker in the 2010 TIME 100 issue. In September 2010 the "[[New Statesman]]" listed Zaha Hadid at number 42 in its annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures of 2010".


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by "[[Woman's Hour]]" on [[BBC Radio 4]]. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Hadid appeared on [[Debrett's]] list of the most influential people in the UK. In January 2015, she was nominated for the Services to Science and Engineering award at the [[British Muslim Awards]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: She won the [[Stirling Prize]], the UK's most prestigious award for architecture, two years running: in 2010, for one of her most celebrated works, the [[MAXXI]] in Rome, and in 2011 for the [[Evelyn Grace Academy]], a Z‑shaped school in [[Brixton]], London. She also designed the [[Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park]] in [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]], which was the centrepiece of the festivities for the city's designation as [[World Design Capital]] 2010. In 2014, the [[Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre]], designed by her, won the Design Museum Design of the Year Award, making her the first woman to win the top prize in that competition. In 2015, she became the first woman to receive the Royal Gold Medal awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: In 2016 in [[Antwerp]], [[Belgium]] a square was named after her, "Zaha Hadidplein", in front of the extension of the Antwerp Harbour House designed by Zaha Hadid.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Google celebrated her achievements with a [[Google Doodle|Doodle]] on 31 May 2017, to commemorate the date (in 2004) on which Hadid became the first woman to win the prestigious [[Pritzker Architecture Prize]].


title: Zaha Hadid

text: Her architectural design firm, [[Zaha Hadid Architects]], employs 400 people and its headquarters are in a [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] former-school building in [[Clerkenwell]], London.


title: Zaha Hadid

text: [[Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum]] in 2008. In 2010, commissioned by the Iraqi government to design the new building for the [[Central Bank of Iraq]]. An agreement to complete the design stages of the new CBI building was finalised on 2 February 2012, at a ceremony in London. This was her first project in her native Iraq. In 2012, Hadid won an international competition to design a new [[Japan National Stadium (2019)|National Olympic Stadium]] as part of the successful bid by Tokyo to host the [[2020 Summer Olympics]]. As the estimated cost of the construction mounted, however, Japanese Prime Minister [[Shinzō Abe]] announced in July 2015 that Hadid's design was scrapped in favour of a new bidding process to seek a less expensive alternative. Hadid had planned to enter the new competition, but her firm was unable to meet the new requirement of finding a construction company with which to partner.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (; born 9 June 1985) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She has won a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award, and from 2012 to 2016, she appeared in "Forbes India" Celebrity 100 list based on her income and popularity.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor, the daughter of actor Anil Kapoor, began her career as an assistant director on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 2005 film "Black". She made her acting debut in Bhansali's romantic drama "Saawariya" (2007), a box office flop, and had her first commercial success with the romantic comedy "I Hate Luv Storys" (2010). This was followed by a series of commercial failures and repetitive roles, which garnered her negative reviews. The 2013 box office hit "Raanjhanaa" marked a turning point in Kapoor's career, garnering her praise and Best Actress nominations at several award ceremonies.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor had her biggest commercial successes with supporting roles in the biopics "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" (2013) and "Sanju" (2018), and a leading role in the romance "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" (2015); the last two rank among the highest-grossing Bollywood films. Her acclaimed portrayal of Neerja Bhanot in the 2016 biographical thriller "Neerja" won her the National Film Award – Special Mention and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, and she followed it with a starring role in the 2018 female buddy film "Veere Di Wedding", both of which rank among the highest-grossing female-led Hindi films. This was followed by two poorly received female-led films and a hiatus.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor supports the raising awareness of breast cancer and LGBT rights. Known in the media for her outspoken personality, she is frequently credited as one of India's most trendy celebrities. She is married to the businessman Anand Ahuja, with whom she has a son.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor was born in the Chembur, Bombay (present-day Mumbai) on 9 June 1985. Her father is actor and producer Anil Kapoor, the son of the late filmmaker Surinder Kapoor and the founder of the Anil Kapoor Films Company. Her mother, Sunita, is a former model and designer. Kapoor has two younger siblings: film producer Rhea and brother Harshvardhan. She is the niece of film producer Boney Kapoor and actor Sanjay Kapoor; actress Sridevi and producer Mona Shourie (Boney's wives) were her aunts. Kapoor's paternal cousins are actors Arjun Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor and Mohit Marwah, and maternal second cousin is actor Ranveer Singh.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: The family moved to the suburb of Juhu when Kapoor was one month old. She was educated at the Arya Vidya Mandir school in Juhu, where she confessed to being a "naughty" and "carefree" child who would bully the boys. She excelled at sports such as rugby and basketball, and trained in Kathak, classical music and Latin dance. Kapoor, who practices Hinduism, states that she is "quite religious", and that it is a way of "reminding myself that I need to be thankful for so much".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor's first job was as a waitress at age 15, although it lasted only a week. As a teenager, she struggled with her weight: "I had every issue related to weight that I could have. I was unhealthy, I had bad skin, and I had hair growing on my face!" Kapoor was diagnosed with insulin resistance and polycystic ovarian disease, and has since begun an initiative to increase awareness of diabetes. Kapoor enrolled at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore for her pre-university education, where she studied theatre and arts. She has said she later started courses in economics and political science through University of Mumbai correspondence programme, after returning from University of East London where she began her bachelor's degree in the same subjects but returned to Mumbai soon after she began. Actress Rani Mukerji, a family friend, visited her family in Singapore on holiday while working on "Black" (2005). Kapoor, who had originally wanted to be a director and writer, expressed a desire to work as a crew member on the film. On her father's recommendation to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she was appointed as his assistant.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: During the production of "Black", Kapoor developed an interest in acting when Bhansali professed that he wanted to cast her in the lead in his next film, "Saawariya". She was advised to lose weight; at the time, she weighed about . Motivated by Bhansali's confidence in her, she lost in two years. Kapoor studied acting with Roshan Taneja, Jayati Bhatia and Feroz Abbas Khan, and has cited actresses Waheeda Rehman and Nutan as influences, admiring their "path-breaking films ... [and] quality of doing different things".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Released in 2007, "Saawariya" saw Kapoor play a Muslim woman awaiting the return of her lover opposite Mukerji, Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan. It was the first Indian feature film produced by a Hollywood studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment. "Saawariya" proved to be a major critical and commercial failure. Writing for BBC, Jaspreet Pandohar called the film a "misfire-on-a-massive-scale". Raja Sen of "Rediff.com" described her laugh as "almost as infectious as her father's", but wished that she had been "allowed to simper softly, instead of having a clearly overdubbed plastic giggle plastered onto her." The film earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination and the Stardust Award for Superstar of Tomorrow – Female.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2009, Kapoor played an aspiring singer opposite Waheeda Rehman and Abhishek Bachchan in the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra-directed social drama "Delhi-6". The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office failure. "CNN-IBN"'s Rajeev Masand referred to Kapoor as a "revelation", writing that she was "a firecracker, instinctive and uninhibited in what isn't even a conventional female lead". Sonia Chopra of "Sify" described Kapoor as an "earnest and effortless performer", and found her character likeable, despite the "typical Delhi-girl recipe".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor's first release in 2010 was Punit Malhotra's romantic comedy "I Hate Luv Storys", opposite Imran Khan. She played an engaged woman who develops a one-sided attraction to her commitment-phobic co-worker. Khan said about Kapoor's craft, "We'd be shooting a scene from multiple angles—for three or four hours you're doing the same scene, the same lines—and here is this person [Kapoor] who brings consistency to her work, from the way she talks, to her accent." Although Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" called Kapoor's performance "stiff and rehearsed", "Daily News and Analysis" Johnson Thomas found her "likeable and believable". "I Hate Luv Storys" was Kapoor's first commercial success, earning worldwide.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor next played the eponymous role in "Aisha", an ensemble romantic comedy-drama based on Jane Austen's novel "Emma", which was produced by her sister Rhea. She described her character as "a meddlesome busybody with a passion for matchmaking and playing Cupid". "Aisha" also starred Abhay Deol, Ira Dubey, Cyrus Sahukar, Amrita Puri, Anand Tiwari, Arunoday Singh and Lisa Haydon. An "Indo-Asian News Service" reviewer thought that Kapoor had stood out in the ensemble with her performance, making "the best of a rather rare opportunity for an Indian leading lady to be part of a Bollywood film that salutes Victorian mores and Delhi's elitist affectations in one clean cool sweep".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2011, Kapoor starred in "Thank You", a comedy about three women who teach a lesson to their philandering husbands. The film, along with Kapoor's performance, received poor reviews; Nikhat Kazmi of "The Times of India" called her "terribly out of sync". She then played the romantic interest of Shahid Kapoor in the Pankaj Kapur-directed romantic drama, "Mausam", which was also poorly received. Despite doubts about her acting ability, critic Saibal Chatterjee of "NDTV" thought Kapoor conveyed "the essential vulnerability of a girl forever under duress, bringing out just the right mix of feminine fragility and native resolve". The following year, Kapoor played a computer hacker opposite Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu in the Abbas–Mustan-directed heist film, "Players", a remake of 2003's "The Italian Job". Her role was originally written for Katrina Kaif, who was unavailable for the film. Although journalists had high expectations, it failed commercially, and Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com remarked derogatively that Kapoor "truly entertains with her childish attempt to pass off as a gold-medalist hacker". Kapoor's string of poorly received films began to hinder her career.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor's role in the Anand L. Rai-directed romantic drama "Raanjhanaa" (2013) marked a turning point in her career; Geety Sahgal called it her best performance to date in "The Indian Express". Kapoor's role was that of Zoya Haider, a young Muslim student from Varanasi who is drawn into politics after the murder of her Sikh lover. To prepare for her part, Kapoor interacted with students, attended workshops and practised with theatre groups associated with Jawaharlal Nehru University. She also studied Jaya Bachchan's work in "Guddi" (1971), which she felt was "perfect" for her role. Discussing her character in the film, Kapoor described her approach to acting: "I have always tried to do different films and ... I try to be different for every character. I like doing different things to challenge myself in every way and don't like to repeat myself." Although "Raanjhanaa" received mixed-to-positive reviews, her performance was praised; Rajeev Masand wrote that she "does some of her best work here, going smoothly from innocent to manipulative to cynical, without ever losing Zoya's inherent vulnerability". With worldwide earnings of over , "Raanjhanaa" was a commercial success and Kapoor received her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor followed the success of "Raanjhanaa" with a brief appearance in "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" (2013), a biopic on athlete Milkha Singh. She received for the film, made on a budget of , citing her admiration for director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and the film itself as reasons for her appearance. Critically praised, "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" was one of the top-grossing Bollywood films of the year. Critic Sarita A. Tanwar wrote in her review that despite her minor role, Kapoor proved to "be the perfect warm counterpart to Milkha". Both "Raanjhanaa" and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" received Filmfare Award for Best Film nominations, the latter of which won.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2014, Kapoor portrayed the banker Mayera Sehgal opposite Ayushmann Khurrana and Rishi Kapoor in the Yash Raj Films comedy-drama "Bewakoofiyaan", in a role which film critic Anupama Chopra found to be poorly written and an "uphill climb". She next starred with Fawad Khan in the romantic comedy "Khoobsurat", an adaptation of the 1980 film of the same name, playing the role which had originally been given to Rekha. Though she received a Filmfare Best Actress nomination for her performance, critics were divided in their response, with Shilpa Jamkhandikar of "Reuters" calling her "loud and exasperating", and Andy Webster of "The New York Times" comparing her to a young Anne Hathaway and highlighting her "Julia Roberts-like smile". Later that year, she met entrepreneur-model Sahir Berry on a social media network, and began a romantic relationship with him, although they broke up a few months later.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2015, Kapoor starred as a runaway bride in "Dolly Ki Doli", a heist comedy co-starring Pulkit Samrat, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma. "Mint"s Udita Jhunjhunwala criticised Kapoor's performance in the film, writing that her "range is too limited to bring alive a character that may have had heaps of potential on paper". Shubhra Gupta wrote: "Kapoor is in almost every frame, and should have filled them all. But the treatment of the character shows up her limitations." Despite the negative reviews for her performance, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. While filming Sooraj R. Barjatya's "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" with Salman Khan in Gondal, Gujarat in February 2015, Kapoor was diagnosed with swine influenza, from which she recovered the following month. Kapoor portrayed Rajkumari Maithili Devi, a princess looking for love. The film became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time. She was praised by Rachit Gupta for her credibility as a royal, and Komal Nahta thought that the role was significant enough to be a turning point in her career. However, she won a Golden Kela Award for Worst Actress.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Following an appearance in the music video of Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend" (featuring Beyoncé), Kapoor starred in Ram Madhvani's biographical thriller "Neerja" (2016). She was cast as the eponymous air hostess Neerja Bhanot, who died while saving the passengers of the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986. Kapoor felt responsible towards the project because it is about real events, and met Bhanot's family as a preparation for her role. The film garnered high critical acclaim, and several commentators considered Kapoor's performance to be her best to date. Raja Sen found her performance to be career-defining, while "Hindustan Times" Rohit Vats wrote that "she carries [the film] entirely on her shoulder. She looks earnest, scared, benevolent and bold, all at the same time." Sen listed Kapoor as the best actress in Hindi cinema in 2016, while Rajeev Masand invited her to his annual best actresses roundtable. In addition to several other accolades, Kapoor won a National Film Award – Special Mention and a Filmfare Best Actress (Critics), in addition to a Filmfare Best Actress nomination. With a worldwide gross over , "Neerja" emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: After a two-year absence from the screen, Kapoor played a social worker in R. Balki's comedy-drama "Pad Man" (2018), based on a short story in Twinkle Khanna's book "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad". Co-starring Akshay Kumar and Radhika Apte, the film is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India. Kapoor said that the length of the role is of little importance to her as long as the film has "relevance beyond just having a good time at the movies". She liked featuring in a film that addresses important social issues and is about something more than just entertainment. Although finding her role to be "largely superfluous", Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Kapoor "makes the most of the limited opportunity"; Anna M. M. Vetticad of "Firstpost" commended her screen presence but disliked a romantic subplot involving her and Kumar, criticising the chemistry and age-gap between them.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: On 8 May 2018, Kapoor married Indian businessman Anand Ahuja in a traditional Sikh ceremony in Bandra, Mumbai; they have a son (born in August 2022). The following month, she featured in Shashanka Ghosh's "Veere Di Wedding", a female buddy film co-starring Kareena Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. Namrita Joshi of "The Hindu" found the film formulaic and clichéd, while Sweta Kaushal of "Hindustan Times" thought the film had "style but no soul" and was partly impressed with Kapoor's performance. With earnings of over , the film proved to her second top-grossing Hindi film not featuring a well-known male star. Later that month, Kapoor featured in Rajkumar Hirani's biopic of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, entitled "Sanju", as one of Dutt's love interests. Kapoor said that despite her brief role, she agreed to the project to work with Hirani and to reunite with Ranbir Kapoor after her debut. Anna M. M. Vetticad criticised the film's attempt to whitewash Dutt's misdeeds, but found Kapoor's portrayal of her small role "sweet". On the other hand, Rajeev Masand called the film "consistently engaging", and wrote that Kapoor "hit the right notes as Sanjay Dutt's [partner]". "Sanju" broke several box-office records, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2019, Kapoor starred in the coming-of-age film "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga" (as Sonam K Ahuja), co-starring her father, Juhi Chawla, and Rajkummar Rao. She played a closeted lesbian who has trouble coming out to her conservative family. She agreed to the project to break stereotypes about same-sex relationships in India. Critics were encouraging of its positive representation of homosexuality, but it failed to do well commercially. Kapoor next starred in Abhishek Sharma's film adaptation of Anuja Chauhan's romantic comedy novel "The Zoya Factor", in which she played the titular character of a clumsy woman who becomes a lucky charm for the Indian cricket team. Ankur Pathak of "HuffPost" was appreciative of her comic timing but bemoaned that "she's out of depth in scenes that require her to exhibit more emotion".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: and is one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood. After the success of "Raanjhanaa" and "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" she was cited by Subhash K. Jha as one of the top actresses in India, though a commentator for Rediff.com notes that several of her films have been commercial failures. In 2009 she was the first Indian actress to appear on "The Hollywood Reporter" "Next Generation: Asia Class", a list of newcomers in film. Outspoken publicly, Kapoor's comments about contemporaries and others in the Indian film industry have occasionally caused controversy. In a 2015 interview, she acknowledged that her opinions often get her into trouble, but remarked that "I believe it pays to be honest in the longer run".


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor is a popular figure nationally, with a significant following on Twitter and Facebook since 2009. She appeared on "The Huffington Post" list of "100 most influential women on Twitter" in 2015. She has been described by the media as a style icon, and featured on Rediff.com's list of "Bollywood's Best Dressed Actresses" in 2012 and 2013. In 2013, the newspaper "Hindustan Times" and Indian edition of "Vogue" called her Style Icon (Reader's Choice) and Beauty of the Year, respectively. Though Kapoor has earned praise for her dress sense and style, she has faced some criticism for wearing traditional Indian dresses.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor was ranked seventh on "The Times of India" 2010 "Most Desirable Woman" list, placing 14th, 28th and 14th the next three years, and was in the top ten of UK magazine "Eastern Eye" "World's Sexiest Asian Women" list from 2011 to 2014. In 2012 and 2013 she also held 48th and 45th place, respectively, on the Indian edition of "Forbes" "Celebrity 100" lists, based on the income and popularity of Indian celebrities. She was named Woman of the Year by the men's magazine "GQ India" in 2013. In 2014 and 2015, Kapoor reached 31st place and 26th position, respectively, peaking at the 18th position the following year with an annual income of . Kapoor has acquired several titles at the "Filmfare" Glamour and Style Awards—in 2015 she won for Most Stylish Star (Female) and Absolut Elyx Style & Substance Award, and in 2016, she was named Most Stylish Star (Female) and Red Carpet Royalty.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: As well as endorsing brands such as Colgate, Electrolux, Lux, Mont Blanc, Oppo Mobile, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. and Signature, Kapoor is the Indian ambassador for international cosmetics manufacturer L'Oréal. In 2011, she was named Brand Ambassador of the Year at the NDTV Good Times Gadget Guru Awards. Rediff.com reported in 2012 that she received for each endorsement, making her one of the highest-paid celebrity endorsers in India. In 2020, Kapoor was among several Bollywood actors who were called out for posting Instagram messages showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, despite their previous work advertising skin-lightening products which perpetuate colorism.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor has supported charitable organisations for various causes. In 2009, she participated in the International Indian Film Academy Awards fashion show, which supports widows and orphans of Indian film-industry workers. On behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) she wrote to Maharashtra Home Minister R. R. Patil, protesting against the use of glass-coated manja (used on fighter kites), which kills birds who become entangled in it. In 2018, however, she attracted some controversy when she declared her support for Salman Khan upon his conviction for hunting an endangered blackbuck, despite her previous criticism of trophy hunting.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: In 2012, Kapoor asked fans to donate to the Ogaan Cancer Foundation for her birthday, and collaborated with the foundation to increase awareness of breast cancer. She is also the brand ambassador for the Elle Breast Cancer Campaign. Kapoor is vocal in her support for LGBT rights in India. She launched the trailer of the film, "Sisak", India's first silent gay love story, through her Twitter account in January 2017.


title: Sonam Kapoor

text: Kapoor auctioned some of her clothes on stylist Pernia Qureshi's online fashion boutique, Pernia's Pop-Up Shop, in 2012. The proceeds were donated to Smile Foundation, a child-welfare organisation. In 2014, she attended a charitable art exhibition organised by the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, and donated clothing and accessories to a website raising funds for In Defense of Animals. Kapoor walked the ramp in a 2015 fashion show by Manish Malhotra for the Mijwan Welfare Society, a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering girls. The same year, she appeared with Hrithik Roshan in the music video for "Dheere Dheere", whose profits were donated to charity. In 2017, she hosted a dinner to raise funds for children suffering from cancer.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Alina Maratovna Kabaeva or Kabayeva (, ; ; born 12 May 1983) is a Russian politician, media manager and retired individual rhythmic gymnast, who has been designated Honoured Master of Sports by the Russian government.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva is one of the most decorated gymnasts in rhythmic gymnastic history, with 2 Olympic medals, 14 World Championship medals, and 21 European Championship medals. She is reportedly the longtime mistress of Russian president Vladimir Putin.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: From 2007 to 2014, Kabaeva was a State Duma Deputy from United Russia. In September 2014, Kabaeva became the chairwoman of the board of directors of the .


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva was born on 12 May 1983 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union, the daughter of Lyubov Kabaeva and Marat Kabayev, a professional football player. Her father is a Muslim Tatar and her mother is Russian. Her younger sister, Leysan Kabaeva, is the general director of a real estate agency and in 2016 was appointed as a judge of the Almetyevsk City Court in Tatarstan by Russian president Vladimir Putin. Due to Marat's career, the family often travelled to different places in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva started rhythmic gymnastics at age three, with coach Margarita Samuilovna. In 1993, she represented Kazakhstan at an international competition in Japan.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In her early teens, Kabaeva moved to Moscow, where her mother took her to the Russian head coach, Irina Viner.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva stayed with Viner, and made her international debut representing Russia in 1996. The 15-year-old Kabaeva won the 1998 European Championships in Portugal. At the time, she was the youngest member of the Russian squad, competing alongside internationally recognized teammates Amina Zaripova and Yana Batyrshina as well as Irina Tchachina. Kabaeva then became the 1999 European Champion in Hungary, and won the 1999 World Title in Osaka, Japan. Kabaeva went on to win a total of 5 All-Around titles at the European Championships.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, in Australia, Kabaeva was expected to claim Gold in All-Around; however, due to an error in an otherwise exceptional performance—she dropped her hoop, and ran to retrieve it outside of the competition area—Kabaeva won the bronze medal, with the final score of 39.466 (Rope 9.925, Hoop 9.641, Ball 9.950, Ribbon 9.950). Belarus's Yulia Raskina took the silver medal, while fellow Russian teammate, Yulia Barsukova, won the Olympic gold medal.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: At the 2001 World Championships in Madrid, Spain, Kabaeva won the gold medal for the Ball, Clubs, Hoop, Rope, the Individual All-Around, and the Team competitions. At the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, Kabaeva won the gold medal for the Ball, Clubs, and Rope competitions, and the Silver in the Individual All-Around, and Hoop. However, Kabaeva and her teammate, Irina Tchachina, tested positive to a banned diuretic (furosemide), and were stripped of their medals.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Viner, the Russian head coach, who also served as the Vice President of the FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee at the time, said her gymnasts had been taking a food supplement called "Hyper", that contained mild diuretics, which, according to Viner, the gymnasts were taking for premenstrual syndrome. When the supply ran out shortly before the Goodwill Games, the team physiotherapist restocked at a local pharmacy. According to Viner, the supplement sold there was fake and contained furosemide. The Committee requested that the Goodwill Games Organizing Committee nullify Kabaeva and Tchachina's results. The FIG also nullified their results from the World Championships in Madrid, causing Ukraine's Tamara Yerofeeva to be declared the 2001 world champion. Kabaeva was not allowed to participate in competitions from August 2001 to August 2002. Her first international competition after the ban was the 2002 European Championships, where she took first place in the individual all-around.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva gained the 2003 World Title in Budapest, Hungary. Kabaeva won the All-Around Gold Medal at the 2003 World Championships, as well as the event final in Ribbon and Ball ahead of Anna Bessonova from Ukraine.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In 2004, Kabaeva won the All-Around Gold at the 2004 European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Greece, Kabaeva won the gold medal in the Individual All-Around for Rhythmic Gymnastics, with a score of 108.400 (Hoop 26.800, Ball 27.350, Clubs 27.150, Ribbon 27.100), the Silver Medal went to her teammate, Irina Tchachina.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In October 2004, Kabaeva announced her retirement from the sport. However, in June 2005, the Russian Head Coach Irina Viner announced a possible comeback. Kabaeva resumed her sport career at an Italy-Russia friendly competition in Genoa, on 10 September 2005. On 5 March 2006, Kabaeva won the Gazprom Moscow Grand Prix, with fellow Russians Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova, taking the Second and Third places. Kabaeva won the silver medal in All-Around at the 2006 European Championships, behind teammate, Sessina.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: At the 2007 European Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan; Kabaeva, Sessina, and Kapranova were chosen to represent Russia. However, on the eve of the competition, Kabaeva withdrew due to an injury. Viner selected rising upcoming gymnast Evgenia Kanaeva from Russia's National Team as the replacement. Kabaeva finished fourth in All-Around qualifications at the 2007 World Championships, and did not advance into the finals due to the two per country rule, with Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova placing ahead of Kabaeva.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: The plans for Kabaeva's participation in the 2008 Olympics were repeatedly announced, but this did not happen.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In 2001, the leaders of the world rhythmic gymnastics Russian women Alina Kabaeva and Irina Chashchina were convicted of using furosemide, as a result of which both were disqualified for two years. The athletes were stripped of all the awards of the 2001 Goodwill Games and World Cup. From August 2001 to August 2002, these gymnasts were not allowed to take part in any competitions. The second year of disqualification was given conditionally; that is, they were allowed to compete in official tournaments, but the strictest control was established over them.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva revolutionized rhythmic gymnastics as one of the few gymnasts to have performed new skills and elements, including the back split pivot with hand help (also known as "The Kabaeva"), the ring position with a slow full turn, and the backscale pivot that she first performed.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Kabaeva was among the six Russian athlete torch bearers who carried the Olympic flame through Fisht Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Her selection as a torch bearer generated controversy in the international media because of her alleged close relationship with President Vladimir Putin.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In 2015, Kabaeva was an honorary guest at the 2015 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. In 2017, she became the official FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Ambassador at the 2017 World Championships in Pesaro, Italy.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Since 2005, Kabaeva has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. Since February 2008, she has been chairwoman of the Public Council of the , the media group that controls Izvestia, Channel One and REN TV.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Between 2007 and 2014, Kabaeva was a Member of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, representing the United Russia party. In her capacity as a Member of Parliament, she voted for a number of controversial laws that were speedily adopted in 2012 and 2013, including the Anti-Magnitsky bill banning inter-country adoption (of Russian orphans) by families in the United States, as well as the Russian gay propaganda law making the distribution of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships" among minors a punishable offense, the extrajudicial ban on access to websites which may host materials violating copyright laws, and the reorganization of the Academy of Sciences.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In September 2014, Kabaeva resigned from the Duma and accepted the position of chair of the board of directors of the National Media Group, the largest Russian media conglomerate. She has faced criticism for her lack of experience and high salary when appointed to political and media posts.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In January 2011, Kabaeva appeared on the cover of "Vogue Russia". In the same month, she launched her singing career, taking to the stage for the first time.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed on numerous Russian political and business leaders. In April 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury prepared sanctions against Kabaeva, however the United States government withheld the sanctions for fear of escalating tensions between Russia and the United States due to her alleged relationship with Putin. The Office of Foreign Assets Control added Kabaeva to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List on 3 August 2022, which results in her assets being frozen and U.S. persons being prohibited from dealing with her.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: On 13 May 2022, Kabaeva and her grandmother Anna Zatseplina were sanctioned by the United Kingdom. On 27 May, Canada imposed sanctions on Kabaeva. On 3 June, she was sanctioned by the European Union. On 1 July, she was sanctioned by Australia.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In April 2008, the "Moskovsky Korrespondent" reported that Kabaeva was engaged to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The story was denied and the newspaper was shut down. In the following years, the status of Kabaeva and Putin's relationship became a topic of speculation, including allegations that they have multiple children together.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: In July 2013, Kabaeva said that she did not have children. In March 2015, she was reported to have given birth to a daughter at the VIP hospital of Saint Ann in Ticino, Switzerland. In 2019, she reportedly gave birth to twin sons at the Kulakov maternity clinic in Moscow. However, the Swiss newspaper "SonntagsZeitung" reported in 2022 that a Swiss gynecologist of Russian origin assisted at both births, stating that the first in 2015 was of a boy and the second in 2019 of another boy, and that both were Putin's sons.


title: Alina Kabaeva

text: According to United States and European security officials, Kabaeva has spent long periods of time in Switzerland since 2015, at residences in Lugano and Cologny.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 13 January 2012, the eight-year-old Costa Cruises vessel "Costa Concordia" was on the last leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea when she deviated from her planned route at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, sailed closer to the island, and struck a rock formation on the sea floor. This caused the ship to list and then capsize, landing unevenly on an underwater ledge. Although a six-hour rescue effort brought most of the passengers ashore, 33 people died:27 passengers, five crew, and later, a member of the salvage team.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by "Costa Concordia" crew and the actions of her captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship prematurely. He left about 300 passengers on board the sinking vessel, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area. Schettino was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Despite receiving its own share of criticism, Costa Cruises and its parent company, Carnival Corporation, did not face criminal charges.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: "Costa Concordia" was declared a "constructive total loss" by the cruise line's insurer, and her salvage was "one of the biggest maritime salvage operations." On 16 September 2013, the parbuckle salvage of the ship began, and by the early hours of 17 September, the ship was set upright on her underwater cradle. In July 2014, the ship was refloated using sponsons (flotation tanks) welded to her sides, and was towed to her home port of Genoa for scrapping, which was completed in July 2017.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The total cost of the disaster, including victims' compensation, refloating, towing and scrapping costs, is estimated at $2 billion, more than three times the ship's $612 million construction cost. Costa Cruises offered compensation to passengers (to a limit of €11,000 per person) to pay for all damages, including the value of the cruise; one third of the survivors took the offer.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: "Costa Concordia" (call sign: IBHD, IMO number: 9320544, MMSI number: 247158500), with 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members on board, was sailing off Isola del Giglio on the night of 13 January 2012, having begun a planned seven-day cruise from Civitavecchia, Lazio, Italy, to Savona and five other ports. The port side of the ship struck a reef at 21:42 or 21:45 local time. The reef is charted as an area known as Le Scole ("the rocks" in the local dialect), about south of the entrance to the harbour of Giglio Porto, on the island's east coast.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The point of initial impact was below water at Scola Piccola ("little rock"), the most seaward exposed rock of Le Scole, which tore a gash in "Costa Concordia"s port side below the water line. The impact sheared two long strips of steel from the ship's hull; these were later found on the seabed from the main island. A few minutes after the impact, the head of the engine room warned the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, that the hull had an irreparable tear of through which water entered and submerged the generators and engines.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Without propulsive power and no emergency electric power, "Costa Concordia" moved through inertia and the settings of her rudders, and continued north from Le Scole until well past Giglio Porto. Schettino has said various instruments were not functioning. Reports differ whether the ship listed to port soon after the impact and when she began listing to starboard. At 22:10, "Costa Concordia" turned south. The vessel was then listing to starboard, initially by about 20°, coming to rest by 22:44 at Punta Gabbianara in about 20 metres of water at an angle of heel of about 70°. Schettino attributed the final grounding of the ship at Punta Gabbianara to his own effort to manoeuvre it there. In contrast, on 3 February, the chief of the Italian Coast Guard testified that the final grounding of the ship may not have been related to any attempts to manoeuvre the ship and it may have drifted simply due to the prevailing winds that night.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Schettino said that, before approaching the island, he turned off the alarm system for "Costa Concordia"s computer navigation system. "I was navigating by sight, because I knew those seabeds well. I had done the move three, four times." He told investigators that he saw waves breaking on the reef and turned abruptly, swinging the side of the hull into the reef. Admitting to a "judgment error", Schettino acknowledged ordering the ship's turn too late. The captain initially said the ship was about from the shore (about the length of the vessel) and hit an uncharted rock. The ship's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, told investigators Schettino had left his reading glasses in his cabin and repeatedly asked Ambrosio to check the radar for him.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Schettino claimed that Costa Cruises managers told him to perform a sail-past salute on the night of the disaster. Previously, on 14 August 2011, the ship took a similar sail-past route, but not as close to Le Scole. The 2011 sail-past was approved by the cruise line and was done in daylight during an island festival. The normal shipping route passes about offshore.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Costa Cruises confirmed that the course taken in 2012 was "not a defined [computer programmed] route for passing Giglio". In an interview with the Italian television channel Canale 5 on 10 July 2012, Schettino said this was a contributing factor to the accident. In addition, at the captain's invitation, the "maître d'hôtel" of the ship, who was from Isola del Giglio, was on the ship's bridge to view the island during the sail-past. A further person on the bridge was a Moldovan dancer, Domnica Cemortan, who testified that she was in a romantic relationship with Schettino and had boarded the ship as a non-paying passenger.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Passengers were in the dining hall when there was a sudden, loud bang, which a crew member (speaking over the intercom) ascribed to an "electrical failure". "We told the guests everything was [okay] and under control and we tried to stop them panicking", a cabin steward recalled. The ship lost cabin electrical power shortly after the initial impact. "The boat started shaking. The noise—there was panic, like in a film, dishes crashing to the floor, people running, falling down the stairs and saying "", reported a survivor. Those on board said the ship suddenly tilted to the port side. Passengers were later advised to put on their life jackets.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Half an hour before the abandon-ship order, one crew member was recorded on video telling passengers at a muster station, "We have solved the problems we had and invite everyone to return to their cabins." When the ship later turned around, it began to list approximately 20° to the starboard side, creating problems in launching the lifeboats. The president of Costa Cruises, Gianni Onorato, said normal lifeboat evacuation became "almost impossible" because the ship listed so quickly.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In the first contact, made at 22:12, between Italian port officials and "Costa Concordia" after the impact on the reef, an unidentified officer on board the cruise ship insisted they were suffering only from an electrical "black-out" from a blown electrical generator. A passenger's video recorded at 22:20 showed panicked passengers in life jackets being told by a crew member that "everything is under control" and that they should return to their cabins. No mandatory lifeboat passenger evacuation drill had taken place for the approximately 600 passengers who had just embarked prior to the voyage. Around the same time, a patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza made a call to "Costa Concordia", but no answer came. Schettino participated in three telephone calls with the cruise line's crisis management officer.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: At 22:26, Schettino told the Port of Livorno's harbour master that the ship had taken water through an opening in the port side and requested a tug boat. Port authorities were not alerted to the disaster until 22:42, about an hour after the impact, and the order to evacuate the ship was not given until 22:50. Some passengers jumped into the water to swim to shore, while others, ready to evacuate the vessel, were delayed by crew members up to 45 minutes, as they resisted immediately lowering the lifeboats. Some sources report that the ship did not list until 23:15 and, therefore, if Schettino had given the order to abandon ship, the lifeboats could have been launched earlier, allowing the passengers to reach safety. In contrast, one expert stated that a delay might be justified considering the hazards in launching lifeboats while a ship is still moving. Staff or 2nd captain Roberto Bosio, is said to have coordinated some of the deck officers in much of the evacuation. He began to evacuate the ship before Schettino's order. Many junior officers and crew members who were aware of the severity of the situation also began readying lifeboats and moving passengers from their cabins before the abandon ship orders were given, a move that has been characterised as a "mutiny".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: While the vast majority of the ship's multinational personnel held positions that did not require a seaman's qualifications (as they handled services like laundry, cooking, entertainment, cleaning, minding children, and waiting tables), according to a senior shipping official, they had received mandatory training in basic safety to be able to help in situations like this. Although all of them spoke at least basic English, most spoke no Italian.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Several passengers asserted that the crew did not help or were untrained in launching the lifeboats. This allegation was denied by the crew, one of whom stated, "The crew members, whether Filipino or Colombians or Indians, tried to the best of our ability to help passengers survive the shipwreck. Comments by some of the passengers that we were unhelpful have hurt us." A third engineer officer from the ship's engine room also pointed out that "Unlike the captain, we were there until the end. We did all we could to avoid catastrophe." Costa Cruises CEO Pier Luigi Foschi praised the crew and personnel, despite difficulties resulting from the apparent lack of direction from the ship's officers and problems in communication. Three people reportedly drowned after jumping overboard, and another seven were critically injured. The local fire chief said his men "plucked 100 people from the water and saved around 60 others who were trapped in the boat". Five helicopters from the Italian Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force took turns airlifting survivors still aboard and ferrying them to safety.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In one telephone call from the Coast Guard to Schettino, Captain Gregorio De Falco, a captain from Livorno, repeatedly ordered Schettino to return to the ship from his lifeboat and take charge of the ongoing passenger evacuation. At one point in the call, De Falco grew so angry at Schettino's stalling that he raised his voice and told Schettino, " (translated as "Get the fuck [back] on board!", "Get [back] on board, for fuck's sake!" or "Get on board, damn it!" depending on the source). One of these calls took place at 01:46. Despite this, Schettino never returned to the ship from the lifeboat into which he claimed he had "fallen".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: At 01:04, an Air Force officer who was lowered on board by helicopter reported that there were still 100 people on board. Father Raffaele Malena, the ship's priest, said he was among the last leaving the ship at around 01:30. The deputy-mayor of Isola del Giglio, Mario Pellegrini, who went on board as part of the rescue operations, praised the ship's doctor and a young "Costa Concordia" officer, Simone Canessa, the only officer he met on board, for their help. He and Canessa were "shoulder to shoulder" until 05:30. One of the missing crewmen, a waiter, was last seen helping passengers.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: At 03:05, 600 passengers were evacuated to the mainland by ferry. At 03:44, the Air Force officer reported that 40 to 50 people were still on board. At 04:46, the evacuation was noted as "complete" on the Port of Livorno's Harbour Master log. The next day, the survivors were transported to Porto Santo Stefano, where the first centre for coordination and assistance was established. Prime Minister Mario Monti announced his intention to propose to the President of the Republic to grant the gold medal for civil valor to the common people of Isola del Giglio and Monte Argentario for their conduct during the rescue.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Between 14 and 30 January 2012, rescue divers from the Italian Navy, Coast Guard, and Vigili del Fuoco (fire and rescue service) searched within the ship for missing people. The head of the coast guard diving team described the conditions inside the ship, still perched on a ledge, as "disastrous". Pitch-black conditions with large furniture drifting around made the rescue operation hazardous. Divers would find a path into the ship and tie down obstacles such as mattresses, before making noise to alert trapped people. The divers worked in pairs for safety (which is standard procedure for any diving operations, even for leisure) and searched each assigned area slowly in a zig-zag manner. The search dives were planned as 50 minutes in duration, with extra air tanks positioned within the ship in case of emergency. The divers had two headlamps positioned on their helmets because underwater visibility varied from approximately 80 to 10 cm. In addition, divers marked their route by trailing a line to be used to lead them back out in low visibility, similar to procedures used in recreational wreck diving.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 14 January, divers searched the ship until nightfall. Divers and firefighters continued to search for survivors who might have been trapped in the ship, and rescued a South Korean newlywed couple who slept through the partial sinking, only to awake and find that they couldn't open their cabin's door, two decks above the water line, and the ship's purser, who had a broken leg.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 16 January, violent waters shifted the ship about , interrupting rescue work—trap doors were shut and debris fell on rescuers—and giving rise to fear that the ship could be pushed into deep waters or that the fuel could leak. Operations resumed about three hours later. Throughout the process, rescuers set off explosives to create holes in the ship's hull to reach previously inaccessible areas. On 18 January, rescue efforts were suspended again when the ship shifted, but shortly afterward they were resumed.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 20 January, the ship began shifting by per hour, but on 24 January, Franco Gabrielli, the Italian Civil Protection Agency head, said the ship was "stable". The same day, divers recovered the body of the 16th victim. On 29 January, the operation was suspended because the ship had shifted in six hours and because of high waves. Gabrielli said, "Our first goal was to find people alive ... Now we have a single, big goal, and that is that this does not translate into an environmental disaster." By the next day, operations resumed.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 28 January, the 17th body, that of a female crew member, was recovered from a submerged part of the vessel. On 31 January, Italy's Civil Protection agency terminated the search in the submerged part of the ship because the deformed hull caused unacceptable safety concerns for divers. On 22 February, guided by information from passengers as to where bodies might be, divers found eight additional bodies in the wreck. A "special platform" was assembled to facilitate swift recovery of the bodies, four of which were recovered. On 22 February, the recovery was suspended by inclement weather. On 4 March, officials reported that they would use "sophisticated robot-like equipment" to find the bodies.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 15 January 2013, the final two bodies were thought to have been located (those of a female passenger and a male crew member), but they reportedly could not be recovered, because their location near the stern made their recovery inaccessible until the ship could be rotated. However, the companies performing the refloating operation denied finding any bodies.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The search for the two still missing bodies continued after the ship was uprighted on 17 September 2013. On 26 September 2013, unidentified remains were found near the central part of the ship, where they were last seen. The remains were subjected to DNA testing to determine their identity. On 8 October 2013, the family of missing crew member Russel Rebello was informed that a body believed to be his was found near the third deck at the stern of the ship. Items on the body were reportedly identified as belonging to missing passenger Maria Grazia Trecarichi instead and on 24 October 2013 it was reported that DNA analysis confirmed it was her body. Additional bone fragments of unknown identity were found in the wreck a few days after the body was found.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 23 October 2013, it was announced that the search for the missing while the wreck was still in the water was completed as far as was technically possible. Depending on the outcome of identification analyses of remains already found, it was stated that further search activities might be conducted in the wreck for the missing crew member Russel Rebello after it has been removed from the water.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 6 and 7 August 2014, divers found human remains on the wreck which was then moored in the port of Genoa. On 3 November 2014, the final body was discovered in the wreckage of the ship.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Numerous reports of the wreck site being infiltrated by looters and souvenir hunters were made following the disaster. Items stolen from the wreck include the ship's bell, cash registers, jewellery, furniture, artwork and various assorted smaller items. Sources at Costa Crociere indicated that the thieves may have gained access to the interior of the ship via entrances cut by search and rescue teams.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Authorities banned all private boats from Giglio Porto and excluded them from a non-navigation zone around the ship.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Poor weather conditions could have caused a spill of oil from the ship. A floating oil barrier was put in place as a precaution. High winds on 1 February lifted the protective barrier, allowing an oily film into the surrounding waters that began spreading from the stern of the ship. The protective boom was redesigned for the weather conditions.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 7 February, Civil Protection director Franco Gabrielli told the Italian Senate that the waters were not completely clear of oil but are "within the legal limits". Environment Minister Corrado Clini told the Parliament of Italy that the amount of diesel fuel and lubricating oil on board "Costa Concordia" was about the cargo of a small oil tanker. Clini said any oil leakage would be highly toxic for plant and animal life. In a first step to prevent pollution of the shore and assist in a refloat the ship, its oil and fuel tanks were emptied.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: As part of the recovery effort, a group of about 200 giant fan mussels "Pinna nobilis" were manually relocated to a nearby area due to the threat posed by subsequent engineering work.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Isola del Giglio lies within the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, one of the Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance. It is a popular scuba diving destination, with tourism being its leading business. Island residents were concerned that the wreck would have a negative impact on tourism and, by extension, the island's economy due to its effect on the view in the area. One resident explained, "Environmental damage is what concerns us most. If the oil pollutes the coast, we're ruined." Luigi Alcaro, head of maritime emergencies for Italy's Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), an agency of the Ministry of the Environment, stated that in a worst case, "[W]e could be talking years and dozens of millions of euros".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: EMSA-contracted stand-by oil spill response vessel "Salina Bay" arrived at the site of "Costa Concordia" on 28 January and remained on station as a precautionary measure during the fuel removal operation. ISPRA's Oceanographic Ship "Astrea" arrived in Tuscany on 29 January to conduct environmental investigations. On 9 February, the CEO of Costa Cruises told residents of Giglio the company would have a plan by mid-March to remove the ship. He also promised to minimise harm to their tourism businesses.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The wreck came to rest on a rock ledge and there were concerns that it might slide into deeper water. The stability and deformation of the ship was monitored by satellite imagery and surface-based instruments. Although the ship was not in "immediate risk" of slipping from its grounded position into deeper water, Environment Minister Clini told the Italian Senate on 8 February that "the risk for a collapse is quite real... The more time passes, the weaker the hull becomes. We cannot guarantee that it has not been compromised already." On 29 January 2012, scientists had become "very concerned" that the ship had moved over six hours that day. On 2 February, the ship shifted during seven hours. Shifts and any high winds and high seas caused suspension of recovery and salvage operations.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 16 February, Civil Protection director Gabrielli "confirmed that the data registered is absent of anomalies". Another report based on sonar and laser measurements, and an ISPRA underwater video, indicated that the ship might collapse in its midsection because its weight was not supported between the rock spur supporting the bow and the rock spur supporting the stern, and said at the time that both of those rocks had "now started crumbling dramatically". Civil Protection director Gabrielli stated that report was reassuring in that "It shows that a part of the seabed has got into the hull, basically increasing the ship'[s] stability." It was also found that the hull was slowly collapsing under its own weight, making salvage more difficult and expensive.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 12 February 2012, after weeks of weather delays, Dutch salvage firm Smit Internationale, acting jointly with Italian company NERI SpA, started removing the vessel's 2,380 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. The 15 tanks that contained about 84% of the fuel in the vessel were emptied first and this operation was expected to take about 28 days. The second phase involved the engine room, which had "nearly 350 cubic metres of diesel, fuel and other lubricants". The offloading process required fixing valves to the underwater fuel tanks, one on top, one on the bottom. Hoses were then attached to the valves and as the oil, warmed to make it less viscous, was pumped out of the upper hose and into a nearby ship, it was replaced with sea water pumped in through the lower hose to fill the space, so as not to affect the ship's balance, a technique known as "hot-tapping".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: By 20 February 2012, the tanks in the forward part of the ship, which had held about two-thirds of the fuel, had been emptied, but the following day defuelling was suspended because of poor weather conditions. On 3 March 2012, salvage workers cut a hole in the ship for access to the engine room, the location of the remaining fuel. On the morning of 12 March, defuelling operations resumed and were completed on 24 March.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: With defuelling complete, removal of the wreck began. On 3 February, Franco Gabrielli, the head of the Civil Protection Authority, told a meeting of residents of Giglio that the ship would be "refloated and removed whole" and not cut up for scrap on site. The CEO of Costa stated that after the breaches in the hull were sealed, the ship could be refloated, with difficulty, by giant inflatable buoys and then towed away. The company invited 10 firms to bid for the contract to salvage the ship. Six bids were submitted in early March and the proposed removal plans were assessed jointly with the Civil Protection Scientific Committee. The salvage operation was expected to commence in the middle of May. The operation, one of the largest ever ventured, was predicted to take from seven to 10 months, depending on weather and sea conditions.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: By 12 April 2012, Costa Crociere had two consortia in mind: Smit and NERI, or Titan Salvage and Micoperi. On 21 April, it was announced that Florida-based marine salvage and wreck removal company Titan, with its partner company Micoperi, an Italian firm specialising in undersea engineering solutions, had been awarded the contract to refloat and tow "Costa Concordia" to a port on the Italian mainland. The salvage operation, using the port of Civitavecchia as its base was anticipated to begin in early May, take about 12 months and cost $300 million. Once in port, the ship would be dismantled and the materials sold as scrap. South African freelancer Nick Sloane was appointed as "salvage master" to lead the operation. The salvage plan included the following operations:


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Preparatory work consisted of building an underwater metal platform and artificial seabed made of sand and cement on the downhill side of the wreck and welding sponsons to the side of the ship above the surface. Once this was completed, the ship was pulled upright by cables over the course of two days and settled on the platform, a method called parbuckling. Additional sponsons would then be attached to the other side of the ship; both sets would be flushed of water and their buoyancy would refloat the ship to allow it to be towed away for demolition.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In June 2012, a barge was put in place, and the removal of its radar, waterslide and funnel began before stabilisation of the ship to prevent further slippage down the sloped seabed. "Concordia"s funnel was cut off in December, and the salvage companies were in the process of building the underwater support structure by mid-January 2013. On 16 September 2013, the parbuckling of the ship began.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The operation to right the ship and free it from the rocks began on 16 September 2013, but started late due to bad weather. Once the ship had been rotated slightly past a critical angle of 24° from its resting position, valves on the sponsons were opened to allow seawater to flood into them and the increasing weight of the water in the sponsons completed the rolling of the ship to the upright position at an accelerated pace, without further need of the strand jacks and cables. The ship was returned to a fully upright position in the early hours of 17 September 2013, shortly before 3:00 a.m. CET. the salvage operation had cost over €600 million ($800 million). The final cost of the salvage came to be $1.2 billion.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Following the conclusion of the righting operation, the ship was kept on the platform while further inspections were made and the starboard sponsons attached. On 10 October 2013 a $30 million option was taken with Dockwise for the use of the world's largest semi-submersible heavy lift vessel, "Dockwise Vanguard", to transport "Costa Concordia" as an alternative to conventional towing, but ultimately the Concordia was indeed refloated and towed to Genoa in July 2014.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In December 2013, invitations were issued by Costa to 12 companies to tender for the dismantling of "Costa Concordia", in France, Italy, Norway, Turkey and the UK. On 30 June 2014 the Italian Government endorsed Costa's decision to have the vessel dismantled at Genoa by Italian companies Saipem, Mariotti and San Giorgio.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 1 February 2014 a Spanish diver working on the "Costa Concordia" wreck died after cutting his leg on a sheet of metal. He was brought to the surface alive by a fellow diver, but later died. This was the only death to occur during the Costa Concordia salvage operation.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 14 July 2014 salvage operators re-floated "Costa Concordia" off its submerged platform and towed the ship laterally a short distance from the coast. On 23 July 2014, "Costa Concordia" began its final journey to the Port of Genoa.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 27 July 2014, "Costa Concordia" arrived in Genoa where it was moored against a wharf that had been specially prepared to receive the vessel for dismantling.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: On 11 May 2015 "Costa Concordia" was towed to the Superbacino dock in Genoa to remove the upper decks.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The last of the sponsons were removed in August 2016 and the hull was taken into a drydock on 1 September for final dismantling. Final scrapping of the ship was completed in July 2017, with 53,000 tons of material having been recycled.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: After the wreck of "Costa Concordia" was towed away, Costa Crociere put Micoperi in charge of the salvage site remediation. This project is also known as phase WP9. Initially, $85 million was assigned to the project, which was to start at the end of 2014, and take about 15 months for its completion. The main activities included ocean floor cleaning, anchor block removal, grout bag removal, and platform removal. The project continued into May 2018. The entities involved regularly published details of the activity.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: All of Costa Concordia was recycled during her scrapping. Most of her furnishings were recycled with her.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: 23 of her 26 lifeboats that were launched during the sinking were taken ashore to the island. The lifeboats were later removed by February 2012 and quietly redistributed to other vessels. The three lifeboats that couldn't be launched were on her port side and were demolished by June to allow room for the salvage operation.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Some of the passengers' belongings like cash or jewelry, as well as the ship's own jewelry, were believed to have been stolen by looters. The rest was disposed along with waste from the ship in an attempt to prevent any artifacts from entering private possession. This was also done out of respect for the victims.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the European Cruise Council (ECC) and the Passenger Shipping Association adopted a new policy requiring all embarking passengers to participate in muster drills before departure. On 29 January 2012, at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Holland America Line made one passenger disembark from the cruise ship for "non-compliance" during a mandatory muster drill. On 24 April, the CLIA and the ECC introduced new policies: bridge officers must agree on the route before departing; ships must carry more lifejackets; and access to the bridge must be limited.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In an action some parliamentarians said was a reaction to the wrecking of "Costa Concordia", the Italian government withdrew proposed legislation that would have reduced current restrictions on mineral exploration and production. On 8 July 2012, CNN reported that the disaster changed the cruise industry's safety and evacuation procedures. Carnival, the parent line of Costa, and several other cruise lines now require safety instruction, referred to as muster drills, before leaving port. The new muster policy consists of 12 specific emergency instructions, which include providing information on when and how to don a life jacket, where to muster and what to expect if there is an evacuation of the ship.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Coverage of the shipwreck dominated international media in the days after the disaster. "The New York Times" called the incident "a drama that seemed to blend tragedy with elements of farce". Phillip Knightley called it the "most significant event in modern maritime history" because "every single safety procedure designed to make sea travel safe failed miserably".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The parbuckling was a major media operation, and the righting was well-documented in video and photographs. News Agencies Getty Images and AP had an extensive coverage, from the day of the disaster to the removal of the wreck with the photographers Laura Lezza, Marco Secchi and Andrew Medichini documenting and capturing all phases.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In 2014, the Smithsonian Channel broadcast "Cruise Ship Down: Saving Concordia", detailing the efforts to right the "Costa Concordia" before it collapsed under its own weight.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Newspaper "Corriere della Sera" stated that Italy owed the world a "convincing explanation" for the wreck and called for harsh punishment of those found responsible. "Il Giornale" said the wreck was a "global disaster for Italy". "Il Messaggero" said there was "anguish over those still missing". "La Repubblica" called the event "a night of errors and lies". "La Stampa" criticised the captain for not raising the alarm and refusing to go back on board the ship.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Italian commentators reflected on the contrast between Schettino and De Falco (the on-duty Italian Coast Guard) and what it said about the national character. They represented "the two souls of Italy", according to Aldo Grasso in "Corriere della Sera". "On the one hand a man hopelessly lost, a coward who shirks his responsibility as a man and an officer, indelibly stained. The other grasps the seriousness of the situation immediately and tries to remind the first of his obligations."


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: Some saw parallels between the incident and the country's recent political upheavals. "To see someone that in a moment of difficulty maintains steady nerves is consoling because that is what we need", another "Corriere della Sera" columnist, Beppe Severgnini, told "The New York Times". "Italy wants to have steady nerves because we've already done the cabaret route."


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: De Falco's exasperated order to Schettino, " became a catchphrase in Italy. T-shirts with the phrase were soon printed and sold across the country. It has also been used on Twitter and Facebook.


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: In September 2012, recognising the best navigation and merchant marine professionals, Lloyd's of London awarded the title of "Seafarers of the Year" to the "Costa Concordia" crew for their exemplary behaviour during the shipwreck which saved most of the ship's passengers. In January 2013, the municipalities of Isola del Giglio and Monte Argentario were decorated with the highest Italian Civil award: the "Gold Medal of Civil Merit" granted by the President of the Republic for the commitment of citizens, administrators and local institutions in the rescue of the survivors of the ship "Costa Concordia".


title: Costa Concordia disaster

text: The mayor of Giglio, Sergio Ortelli, and Costa Cruises agreed that a large boulder that was wedged in the hull would be removed from the side of the vessel and be positioned on the island as a memorial to the 32 people who lost their lives. Ortelli anticipates the boulder will "most likely" be positioned "close to the harbour entrance so that visitors and locals can see it clearly and pay their respects to the victims. What happened that night is something Giglio will never forget and the rock will be a fitting memorial." The cost of removing the 80-tonne boulder is estimated at £40,000.