Olympian Dismisses Nude Modeling To Become Next Maria Sharapova, Represent Luxury Brands

An Olympian named Angelika Timanina said she will not do any nude photoshoots in an attempt to channel Maria Sharapova as a model of luxury brands.

Aside from being a tennis icon, Sharapova also used to represent some of the most luxurious brands in the world, including Tiffany & Co. and Tag Heuer. This has made “The Siberia Siren” famous even outside the sport. Even to this day, many female athletes are still inspired by Sharapova. One of them is synchronized swimmer Timanina.

Now 30 years old, Timanina still aims to achieve more in her life. The Russian surfer is set to compete in the 2021 Tokyo games, nearly a decade after scoring gold in London for her original sport synchronized swimming. But apart from the Olympics, Timanina also has her eyes locked on another career milestone – becoming the Sharapova of synchronized swimming.

In an interview with RT.com last April, Timanina revealed that she’s not only planning to channel Sharapova as a sports icon but also as an endorser of luxury brands as well.

“I wanted to become like the ‘Maria Sharapova of synchronized swimming,’, cover the luxury sector, brands like Dior and Armani,” Timanina revealed.

The Olympian was also asked about the idea of nude photoshoot to which she was quick to address. According to Timanina, she’s not taking her clothes off for any photoshoot at the moment as she believes luxury brands do not consider models who have done nude modeling.

“Of course [she is asked to take off her clothes]. But my goal from the very beginning was different. luxury brands will never work with a girl who has done naked shoots for the cover of Playboy,” Timanina explained.

While becoming the next Sharapova seems to be a bit of a long term goal for Timanina, she utilizes social media advertising as her source of income at the moment. Thus far, everything seems to work out well for her.

“I graduated from commentary courses at Ostankino, hired a PR representative and set out to be recognized in Russia. I wanted to become a media personality so I could make money from it. It worked,” Timanina said.

Timanina is still set to compete in surfing competition in Japan after the Olympics were pushed back a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ahead of the Olympics, Timanina also expressed her deep appreciation for surfing as it “has opened up a whole new world for her.”