On June 4, 2012, four Russian basketball players posed for two photographs in Moscow. Fourteen years later, Anna Petrakova, Nadezhda Grishaeva, Ekaterina Lisina and Natalia Vieru have followed remarkably different paths beyond professional sport.
By Mash
Two Photographs from June 2012
Sometimes, an old photograph becomes more interesting with the passage of time.
On June 4, 2012, photographer Ramil Sitdikov captured four Russian women’s national basketball players at the Bosco Sport outfitting centre in Moscow.
The women were Anna Petrakova, Nadezhda Grishaeva, Ekaterina Lisina and Natalia Vieru.
Two photographs from that day remain in the Sputnik Images archive. They show the same four athletes together, preserving a brief moment in their shared basketball history.
Readers can explore both original images:
- Photograph One — Sputnik Images, archive No. 1145904 — Anna Petrakova, Nadezhda Grishaeva, Ekaterina Lisina and Natalia Vieru, from left to right.
- Photograph Two — Sputnik Images, archive No. 1145903 — another photograph of the same four players from the June 2012 session.
Both photographs were taken by Ramil Sitdikov and are credited to Sputnik.
At the time, the London Olympic Games were approaching, and basketball was central to the lives of all four women.
Yet the years that followed would take them in very different directions.
One would build a family life in the United States with a legendary American basketball player. Another would establish a fitness business. A third would enter the modelling industry and set a Guinness World Record. The fourth would develop an international audience through social media.
Looking back from 2026, the photographs tell a story about much more than sport.
Anna Petrakova: Basketball, Coaching and a New Life in America
Anna Petrakova had already established herself as a successful professional basketball player by 2012.
She represented Russia at the London Olympics and played for leading Russian clubs, including UMMC Ekaterinburg.
Her international experience began early. She moved to the United States to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she combined her education with college basketball.
After retiring from professional competition following the 2016–17 season, Petrakova also worked as an assistant coach with the Russian national team.
Her personal life subsequently became closely connected to one of the most celebrated players in women’s basketball: Candace Parker.
The two met while playing for UMMC Ekaterinburg in 2012. Their friendship developed into a relationship, and they married in December 2019.
They publicly announced their marriage in 2021.
Together, they are raising their family, including sons Airr Larry and Hartt Summitt, alongside Parker’s daughter Lailaa.
Petrakova’s journey shows how professional basketball can shape not only an athletic career but also the personal relationships and international connections that follow it.
Her life after competition has remained connected to the sport that originally brought her and Parker together.
Nadezhda Grishaeva: From European Basketball to Fitness Entrepreneurship
For Nadezhda Grishaeva, the years after the photographs were taken brought further international basketball experience.
Grishaeva represented Russia at the London 2012 Olympic Games and continued playing professionally in Europe.
Her club career included Dynamo Moscow, France’s Arras and Turkey’s Beşiktaş.
Years of elite basketball required discipline, intensive physical preparation, teamwork and constant adaptation to different sporting environments.
These experiences eventually contributed to her interest in the wider fitness industry.
After retiring from professional basketball, Grishaeva moved into entrepreneurship.
In 2021, she founded Anvil Fitness Club in Moscow, developing a training environment that combined high-quality equipment, professional coaching, interior design and recovery facilities.
Her interest in fitness has continued to evolve beyond the traditional gym concept.
She has explored wellness trends, training technology and the importance of architecture and atmosphere in modern fitness clubs.
Her observations on Dubai’s fitness industry have also focused on the relationship between physical space and the quality of the training experience.
For Grishaeva, leaving professional basketball did not mean leaving sport behind.
Instead, it meant approaching physical performance from a new perspective: as an entrepreneur and someone interested in creating better environments for training and recovery.
Ekaterina Lisina: From Olympic Basketball to International Modelling
Ekaterina Lisina followed one of the most unexpected paths of the four athletes.
At approximately 2.06 metres tall, she was a formidable presence on the basketball court.
Lisina represented Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where the national team won the bronze medal.
Her professional basketball career continued until 2014, when she decided to pursue a very different ambition.
She entered the modelling industry.
The exceptional height that had distinguished her in basketball became a defining element of her new professional identity.
In 2017, Guinness World Records recognized Lisina as the world’s tallest professional model.
Her transition attracted international media attention and provided opportunities beyond competitive sport.
Unlike many former athletes who move into coaching or sports administration, Lisina chose an industry where her appearance and individuality became central to her career.
Her story demonstrates that the qualities which make someone distinctive in one profession can sometimes open the door to an entirely different future.
Natalia Vieru: From EuroLeague Champion to Social Media Creator
Natalia Vieru built an outstanding career as a professional basketball centre.
At approximately 2.08 metres tall, she was one of the tallest players in European women’s basketball.
She represented Russia at the London 2012 Olympics and played for leading clubs including Sparta&K and UMMC Ekaterinburg.
Her achievements included six EuroLeague Women titles, placing her among the competition’s most successful players.
After completing her professional basketball career, Vieru developed a new public identity outside sport.
Living in Germany, she began building an audience on social media, sharing photographs and videos about everyday life, fashion, travel and the experience of being an exceptionally tall woman.
Her Instagram presence, under the name @natali_vieru15, has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers.
Rather than focusing exclusively on basketball, her content often explores ordinary situations from an unusual perspective.
Her visits to events such as Munich’s Oktoberfest have also featured prominently in her social media activity.
For Vieru, the same physical characteristics that once helped define her sporting career have become part of a successful new identity as a digital creator.
Her experience illustrates how the internet has opened professional opportunities that barely existed when the four athletes stood together for their photographs in 2012.
Four Different Lives Beyond the Basketball Court
Looking back at the two photographs from June 2012, it is remarkable how differently the lives of these four women developed.
Anna Petrakova continued her connection to basketball while building a family life in America.
Nadezhda Grishaeva moved into fitness entrepreneurship, applying her athletic experience to the development of modern training environments.
Ekaterina Lisina entered the modelling world and achieved international recognition through Guinness World Records.
Natalia Vieru found a new audience through social media, building a personal brand beyond professional sport.
Their shared experience of elite basketball was an important chapter in each of their lives.
Yet it did not determine everything that came afterwards.
The two photographs preserved by Sputnik capture one particular moment, when the four women were connected by their sporting careers.
Fourteen years later, those same photographs offer a reminder that success is not necessarily limited to the profession in which someone first becomes known.
Two photographs. Four women. Four different lives.
Archival sources: Sputnik Images, photographs No. 1145904 and No. 1145903, taken by Ramil Sitdikov in Moscow on June 4, 2012. The photographs are linked for editorial reference and are not reproduced on this website.