Kazakh athlete who captivated global social media becomes an anime “heroine“

Tengrinews.kz — Social media users continue to discuss Ust-Kamenogorsk athlete Jasmin Begalinova. Her striking appearance has inspired fans around the world, while one video creator even dedicated a spectacular anime short film to her.

What happened

The creator made the video in an unusual style, using a moment from the athlete’s performance at a tournament as its basis.

“Height is her element. Jasmin is the future of Kazakhstan’s high jump,” said the creator, named Karim.

The creator later decided not to use real photographs of the athlete as references. Instead, he created a complete mini-episode from scratch — from the athlete preparing to enter the stadium to the “super jump” itself — in a style resembling the sports anime Blue Lock.

The videos received more than 500,000 views and over 20,000 likes.

“Very beautiful!”, “One day you will become a star and win Olympic gold for Kazakhstan!”, “Well done! Brand contracts will be coming her way now,” and “She is amazing — she looks like Leeloo from The Fifth Element!” users wrote in the comments.

Inspired by the footage, amateur artists from various countries began recreating the athlete’s iconic photograph in a wide range of styles.

Screenshot: Instagram/@hay_nyash

Fan art continues to appear on social media, while Jasmin remains one of the most discussed Kazakh athletes of recent days.

Background

As a reminder, last week, East Kazakhstan region athlete Jasmin Begalinova unexpectedly became a star on foreign social media. Footage from a high-jump competition, in which she appeared with a striking hairstyle, instantly went viral worldwide. Foreign users widely praised the Kazakh athlete’s appearance and compared her to characters from iconic video games.

At the time, we spoke with Jasmin and learned that she is 18-year-old lives in Ust-Kamenogorsk and is currently studying at a sports college to become a coach. She plans to build her future around sport, aiming to earn the title of Master of Sport and compete in the Olympic Games