Putin and his non-traditional flame

Vladimir Putin has passed the law that there should be no propaganda of "non-traditional sexual relationships", he says it will affect the youth of Russia. Why is it then that Alina Kabayeva, who is rumoured to be his mistress, should be the last person before those who lit the cauldron to hold the Olympic flame?

The other people who carried the Torch in the stadium were

• Maria Sharapova, she may only have had one Olympic silver medal, but she was world number 1 in tennis and was actually born in Sochi. 
• Three time Olympic Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion Aleksander Karelin, he has a career record of 887 wins and only two losses. 
• Double Olympic pole-vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva. 
• Three time Olympic champion Ice Hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak
• Irina Rodnina who won three successive pairs gold medals in figure skating.

Kabayeva has one Olympic gold and one bronze in rhythmic gymnastics is one gold and one bronze. She hardly ranks amongst the great Olympians. Indeed but by an unfortunate career-ending injury to Daria Kondakova ahead of London 2012 who had far more world medals in a shorter career she may well have even been second to a local Sochi rhythmic gymnast. But of course there are other gymnasts from Russia who are multiple gold medalists.

Indeed the living Russian woman with the most gold medals is a Winter Olympian is Lidiya Skoblikova has six gold medals in speed skating from the 1960 and 64 Olympics. This is not just the most by a clean Russian woman but a record for her sport. Yes she may be 74 but she has six gold medals in an winter Olympic event.

So yes there are questions as to why it appears that Putin managed to get his alleged mistress to hand the torch over to the lighters of the cauldron. Indeed you can almost imagine that he had wanted her to be one later in the order only to be talked out of it by some official or other.