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Woman unhappy after airport security prevented her briefly from boarding flight

Anna Turaeva, a champion powerlifter from Russia has expressed displeasure about how she was confronted by airport security to confirm she is indeed a female as stated on her passport.

Female athlete unhappy after airport security prevented her from boarding flight

The 42-year-old woman is a six-time world powerlifting champion and eight-time European powerlifting champion.

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Years of bodybuilding and powerlifting training have transformed her body into a masculine physique but she has always maintained that she is 100% female.

She has narrated a humiliating experience at the hands of the said airport security who prevented her from boarding a plane from St Petersburg to her home city of Krasnodar until she reassured them of her gender through answering what she considered a private and intimate question. She said although the query was unwarranted, she took her trouble to answer respectfully.

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She later took to her social media to lash out at the airline, Utair over the unpleasant experience.

“At the checkpoint, they refused to let me pass through saying that it was written in my passport that I am a woman,” Anna Turaeva posted. “It was humiliating, I was reprimanded like a child in front of people in the queue. [I was asked] intimate questions. [They were] interested in who I am in my life – and in bed. The whole queue was watching this anarchy, and I felt as helpless as possible in this situation,” Anna Turaeva lamented. “I have worked all my youth – with my blood and sweat for my country, not to be treated this way.”

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Reports say Utair later issued a public apology to Turaeva, admitting that “such service is unacceptable”.

Anna Turaeva gained popularity when photos of her wearing manly clothes and looking masculine due to her athletic training hit the internet.

According to Odditycentral.com, she looked perfectly normal for her age, but she was a sickly girl, spending most of her time between the ages of 6 and 15 in various hospitals. It was these hardships that shaped her character, making her more resilient and ambitious.

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She reportedly skipped physical education classes for most of her school years because of her fragile health, but when her health improved, Anna became interested in martial arts and trained in Sambo and then Taekwondo.

She became passionate about bodybuilding and entered her first competition at the age of 18.

She however suffered a terrible spine injury in 2006 leaving her almost debilitated for three months, and she could only lift weights when lying on the bench. During this time, she realized that powerlifting was more satisfactory.

She then took it seriously, sometimes reportedly training for up to 12 hours a day before she excelled in women’s powerlifting becoming a world champion six times and European champion eight times.

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As a result of the consistent training, Anna now has bulging muscles just like male athletes, her facial features have turned more masculine, and she has started going bald too.

Although she behaves like a male, she maintains that feels more like a female.

“I really love shops, hairdressing salons, manicure, and cosmetic procedures,” Anna said. “I see myself that way. I’m not going to prove anything to anyone. It’s just my style, my lifestyle… I am so comfortable,” Odditycentral.com quoted her as saying.

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