Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
Video Credit: Golders/@samira__mustafaeva
This is the moment a former world champion gymnast is seen “manspreading” on the metro when she does the splits and takes up five seats at the same time as a man tries to sit next to her.
Russian and Azerbaijani gymnast Samira Mustafaeva, 26, posted the video on social media while she was on the underground in the Russian capital Moscow.
The video shows the moment a man tries to sit to the left of Mustafaeva as she is totally focused on her phone. However she extends her left leg across two seats to stop him from sitting down.
The man then walks to the right of Mustafaeva and she extends her right leg across another two seats just as the man tries to sit, performing the splits effortlessly.
After a short glare from the gymnast, he decides to walk on and sit in a different seat all the while Mustafaeva never looks away from her mobile.
The former champion captioned the video: “When you do not want to share a chair. Feel the same sometimes?” however local has taken the video as a snub to “manspreading” – the habit of men sitting in public places with legs spread wide apart taking up more space than necessary.
Mustafaeva has gained the support of some netizens who took to social media to comment on the video.
‘Caterina_zuzuik’ said: “Another way of protecting your personal space in the modern day and age. Wonderful!”
‘takaya_lapo4ka’ commented: “I think I have watched it about 100 times, this is so dope.”
‘Tanushaarkhipova’ wrote: “I wish I could do that kind of spreading on public transportation.”
Mustafaeva represented both Azerbaijan and Russia as a rhythmic gymnast and won multiple medals including a gold at the 2012 International Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition held in Vitoria, Brazil.
She also has two bronze medals in the Word Rhythmic Gymnastics competition and was considered as one of the sport’s best athletes by the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG).
She retired from professional rhythmic gymnastics in 2013 at the age of 20 and founded SM Stretching.
She has opened a total of six fitness studios, five in Moscow and one in Los Angeles, where she and other trainers help clients gain flexibility using their years of experience in gymnastics.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
