Sabina Altynbekova is an 18-year-old who has been making headlines for her gorgeous good looks. But Altynbekova, who just wants to play volleyball, is begging fans to stop posting about her on social media because her teammates are turning on her due to all the attention and her coach is saying "It is impossible to work like this."
If you haven't heard of Altynbekova, it's because she's a relative unknown. A member of the Kazakhstan volleyball team, Altynbekova lived in obscurity until she showed up to play at a championship match in Taipei. She didn't know it, but by the end of the game fans had become obsessed with her. Now newspapers are devoting 10 page pictorials to her and fans are churning out facebook groups and "anime fantasies" as fast as they can.*
While none of this attention is Altynbekova's fault (she certainly didn't ask for it and she is begging for it to stop), it has begun to wear on her teammates, and even the Kazakhstan media is upset with the attention she's getting.
'Fans just stare at her and they are not following the championship any more,' reported Vesti, a respected Kazakh daily paper.
Even her coach on Kazakhstan's Under-19 national team has complained about it. Nurlan Sadikov told Tengrin News: 'It is impossible to work like this.
'The crowd behaves like there is only one player at the championship.'
On one hand, it's great that people are paying attention to Volleyball, a game that no one has ever cared about in the history of time**, but on the other it's awful that Altynbekova is getting all this attention despite her pleas for it to stop. She doesn't want to be known for being beautiful, she only wants to be known for being an excellent athlete.
'I was flattered at first but it's all getting a little bit much,' she said. 'I want to concentrate on playing volleyball and to be famous for that, not anything else.'
Also, maybe stop asking athletes about what kind of dudes they like, reporters. There's no reason for it and, frankly, it's creepy.
*The Daily Mail's headline is the most confusing thing I have seen today.
**This is a fact that I made up just for you! I even footnoted it so you would come down here expecting a credible source and find only this. Madest thou look.