Who Is Candace Parker’s Wife? All About Anna Petrakova

Candace Parker and Anna Petrakova went from teammates to wives to mothers of two children.

The professional basketball players first met in 2012 when Petrakova joined UMMC Ekaterinburg in her native Russia. At the time, Parker was already on a team that played overseas during the WNBA offseason. They formed a close friendship before things turned romantic.

Parker proposed to Petrakova in early 2019 before they tied the knot in December of that year. They kept their relationship a secret until two years later when they announced that they were married and expecting their first child together. In February 2022, they had a son named Airr, who joined his older sister Laila, Parker’s daughter from a previous relationship.

“It was amazing to go through this again, and obviously with my beautiful wife and daughter [by my side],” Parker told PEOPLE about raising their son. “To be able to see her as a sister, it was amazing.”

So who is Anna Petrakova? Here’s everything you need to know about the Olympian and her relationship with wife Candace Parker.

She learned English after moving to the US for college

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

In early 2002, Petrakova began playing basketball at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, knowing only the little English she picked up from her older sister, Marina, who moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2000.

“She had just turned 17 a month early, and my job was to register her and get her into classes for that semester,” former academic coordinator Danny Cottonham recalled. Daily Advertiser 2018 “I wasn’t very optimistic about Anna’s future. She spoke fluent Russian, but most of her other communication was with a smile.”

Nearly four years later, she has had one of the school’s most successful women’s basketball careers. She was the first female collegiate athlete to be named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.

“I learned everything I know about work ethic there,” said Petrakova about her time at her alma mater. “I learned that you can make your own way and make your own mark if you work hard and have good intentions. And Lafayette was the perfect place for me. I didn’t know if I was going to feel welcome or an outcast, but that all disappeared that on the first day at Mr. [Cottonham]office.”

She was a professional basketball player in Russia

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

Petrakova has basketball in her blood. Her father, Viktor Petrakov, played in the Euroleague CSKA from Moscow and for the basketball team of the then Soviet Union.

“Since I was 8 years old, I played basketball almost non-stop and it definitely paid off,” she told za Daily Advertiser. “I feel like I was really lucky. I never had any major injuries and I chose when I was going to end my career and I wasn’t forced to stop. And Lafayette and the Cajuns were a big step for me. I loved it all. I would do it all over again and not wouldn’t change a thing.”

After leaving the University of Louisiana, she went professional with the Nur club in Kazan, Russia. According to the International Basketball Federation, she played for several teams in her career, including Spartak, CSKA Moscow, Chevakata Vologda, Dynamo Kursk and UMMC Ekaterinburg.

She retired as a player after the 2016–2017 season and later became an assistant coach of the Russian national team.

She met Parker while playing basketball

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

In 2012, Petrakova joined UMMC Ekaterinburg, where Parker played during the WNBA offseason. The couple later told TIME that they kissed for the first time one night after practice. They regularly posted joint photos from their team functions on social networks.

“There were several drunken nights,” Petrakova told the newspaper. “And he’d just go further than we’d think.”

Petrakova recalled their first kiss: “We are afraid and ask ourselves: ‘What the hell was that?’ You’re kind of afraid to look into each other’s eyes and then you say, “Okay, okay, what are we? We are lying to ourselves here.” ”

She is a mother

Candace Parker on Instagram

Petrakova and Parker are also parents. Parker and her ex-husband, former NBA player Shelden Williams, have a daughter named Lailaa Nicole. (Parker and Williams married in 2008 and split in 2016, citing “irreconcilable differences.”)

In addition to parenting Laila, Parker and Petrakova welcomed their first child together on February 11, 2022. Petrakova gave birth to their son, Airr Larry Petrakova Parker.

“We are absolutely in love and extremely appreciative that Goose chose us. Welcome to the SON fam🥺🥰❤️😭😭😭,” Parker wrote on Instagram.

She is an Olympian and Euroleague champion

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

Petrakova played for the Russian women’s national basketball team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where they placed fourth. She later took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics relay team en route to Sochi, Russia, for the opening ceremony. In 2015, she received the award for player of the year in the Russian Premier League and is considered one of the most successful players in the country.

In 2012, she won the EuroCup women’s championship with Dynamo Kursk. With UMMC Ekaterinburg, she became the EuroLeague Women champion the following year before taking home the FIBA ​​Europe SuperCup Women title.

She has other athletic passions

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

Although basketball is one of her passions, Petrakova regularly engages in other sports activities. She has posted photos of her hobbies, including yoga, pilates, swimming, beach volleyball and aerial silk work.

In 2016, she tried paddle boarding for the first time. She thanked teammate Tichi Penicheiro for introducing her to this hobby and was proud that she didn’t fail on her first try.

“What is #paddleboarding called in Russian? Paddle surfing? Learned, practiced, recommended!! Especially in warm water and at sunset in #miami,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of herself in the water. “Rowing with the best crew!”

She and Parker married in secret

Candace Parker on Instagram

In April 2019, Petrakova took Parker to Mexico for her birthday. Parker proposed to Petrakova in front of 15 family members and friends while they were on the boat together, while daughter Lailaa brought out a cake that read, “Will you marry us?”

“She knows that Lailaa is the center of my entire universe,” Parker told TIME. “So we come in a package. It was important that the dynamic duo were promoted to the Big Three.”

The couple tied the knot in December 2019 and managed to keep their engagement and wedding a secret until two years after the ceremony.

On December 14, 2021, they announced that they were married and pregnant.

They came out publicly after the wedding

Anna Petrakova’s Instagram

Petrakova told TIME that she and Parker were surprised by the romantic turn in their relationship. “I think we literally denied ourselves that for three years,” she said of their early relationship. “That’s when we finally accepted it. It was a long, hard process.”

The couple decided to go public because they wanted to set an example for their daughter Laila.

“I always tell my daughter to be herself. I always tell my daughter to be proud of who she is. And I always tell my daughter to speak up for herself and to speak up for those she loves. And I can’t tell her that if I don’t do it myself ” Parker explained. “I don’t want him to ever think I’m ashamed or not proud of our family. It was a step we had to take. But we had to take it on our own terms.”

As for coming out publicly, “I felt like in this society, in this day and age, you shouldn’t do that,” Parker said — but she and Petrakova decided to do it to “open the door to conversation” and remind people ” how valuable it is to have support”.

“Society has had a way of putting this pressure on people to come out. And I don’t think it should be like that,” she added. “I think there were a few members of the media who knew about my family. And they supported them. They didn’t kick me out. Or they didn’t pressure me to expose my living situation.”

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Source: HIS Education