Alina Kabayeva engaged – to Vladimir Putin?!

Nope, not a joke. Well, maybe it is a joke. Could it be a joke?

From the Department of Things That Make You Go Hmmm: International Gymnast Magazine, whose website seemed to be down for a few hours this afternoon, has posted a newsflash that Russian rhythmic superstar Alina Kabayeva is going to marry soon-to-be former Russian President Vladimir Putin, 55.

Putin divorced his wife two months ago. The couple is reportedly planning a June wedding. Putin’s second term in office expires in May.

International Gymnast apparently got the news from Russian newspaper Moscow Correspondent. No word as to what kind of a newspaper Moscow Correspondent is, but apparently its reputation is good enough for IG.

Although brilliant (and always, always smiling when she performed) Kabayeva, the 2004 Olympic Rhythmic gymnastics champion, has a fair history of gymnastics scandal.

She has won numerous world and European titles, and was stripped of her gold medals at the 2001 World Championships for testing positive for diuretics at the Goodwill Games a few months earlier.

She and Svetlana Khorkina (and several other famous attractive young Russian women) made headlines when they joined the Duma, the lower house of Russian Parliament, several months ago. The Times of London called it “an age-old trick to capture voters’ imagination.”

Putin was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2007, beating out Al Gore, J.K. Rowling and Hu Jintao.

Tags: Add new tag, Al Gore, Alina Kabayeva, Hu Jintao, J.K. Rowling, Svetlana Khorkina, Vladimir Putin