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Olympics. And she’s refusing to let the controversy surrounding the Games get her down. ‘It’s the Olympics – it’s easy to stay positive when we work towards this our whole careers.’
Last month, there was further controversy when Russia narrowly avoided an IOC blanket ban on its athletes, following alleged state-sponsored doping. And security fears were sparked last week when the mother-in-law of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone was kidnapped in São Paulo, with criminals demanding a £28m ransom. (As Grazia went to press, Aparecida Schunck was still missing.)
Has any of this rocked Dina’s confidence? ‘The ransom is very scary to everybody but, as long as we stay safe and sensible, hopefully it won’t happen again,’ she says. ‘The British Olympic Katarina JohnsonThompson (left and above) hopes to bring home gold in the heptathlon Association has taken lots of precautions making sure we’ve got security details.’
After working so hard, does Dina feel it’s unfair for those who abuse the rules not to be punished more severely? ‘It’s disappointing the Russians are allowed to take part and it’s sad there’s been no firm action. But, at the same time, I’ve got to go out there and perform to the best of my ability. I’ve got that confidence that I’m doing it the right way.’
Dina has been waiting a long time for this and she’s not going to let the dangers of the Zika virus fluster her either. ‘Obviously, I’ll be taking every precaution,’ she says, ‘but I don’t want children anytime soon anyway. I’ve got a bit of running to do first! This is my Olympic Games – I’ve been waiting for this my whole life and nothing is going to put me off. I want to go faster than I ever have before.’
CALVIN HARRIS’S transition from full-time DJ to semi professional Taylor Swift troll continues apace. Last week, Taylor’s ex was pictured smiling next to her newest nemesis, Kim Kardashian, at Jennifer Lopez’s birthday bash in Las Vegas. According to one source, ‘He made a beeline for Kim, and they chatted for about 15 minutes.’ The pair have both been vocal critics of Taylor in recent times, with Calvin attacking her on Twitter, and Kim leaking video footage appearing to show her approving Kanye West’s song Famouss (something Taylor has always denied.) The source added, ‘Calvin is extremely bitter about his time with Taylor and has told friends he feels like he “never really knew her”. He was joking with Kim about starting their own squad, and knew that being pictured with her would make Taylor’s blood boil.’
And as if the sight of her ex and enemy in cahoots wasn’t enough to achieve this aim, Calvin made his allegiances clear by lip-synching along to Kanye on Snapchat. Could he be about to dethrone Mariah Carey as the queen of pettiness?
Meanwhile, Taylor, 26, appears to have reacted to her recent struggles by keeping a low profile. According to one source close to the singer, ‘She feels like she’s become overexposed and has dealt with the recent backlash by retreating.’ Taylor’s new boyfriend Tom Hiddleston has apparently been staying at her LA home between commitments, with a second source saying, ‘He’s doing everything he can to support her, but Marvel and his agents rule his diary with an iron fist. He recently had to pull out of a dinner at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica when his schedule changed, but was seen last week flflying into LA for date night at the Hillstone restaurant.’
Speaking at Comic-con in San Diego, Tom, 35, appeared to allude to rumours that his relationship with Taylor is a publicity stunt when he said: ‘Everything you do, you have to make sure you truly believe in it and as long as you know that, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says about it.’