Spartakiad of the peoples of the USSR - mass sport competitions in the USSR in 1956-91. Two types of sports days were held: the summer sports days of the peoples of the USSR, as a rule, were organized in Olympic year, and winter - two years before the Olympic Games.
In total, ten summer sports days of the peoples of the USSR and seven winter sports days of the peoples of the USSR were held.
The 1st Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in the Olympic year 1956. The first series of stamps on this theme is dedicated to her. During the opening, almost all members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU were in the box for guests of honor. The first records of the country on the treadmill of the Grand Sports Arena Central Stadium were established in the 10,000 m run (by Vladimir Kuts, the hero of the upcoming Olympics in Melbourne) and in the 4x200 m relay. 33 USSR records and 9 world records were set at the competition. The winners of the Spartakiad were the athletes of the Moscow team, who outstripped the athletes of the RSFSR and Leningrad teams.
The II Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1959. Chess, motorsport and table tennis. At the Spartakiad, 12 records of the Soviet Union, one European record, 3 world records were set. In the team standings, the first place was taken by the athletes of the Moscow team.
The III Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1963. At the Spartakiad, 32 USSR records and 4 world records were set. For the third time, the first place was taken by the athletes of the Moscow team.
IV Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1967. 46 USSR records, 12 European records, 20 world records were set. For the fourth time in a row, the team victory was for the Moscow team.
The 5th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1971. At the Spartakiad, 35 USSR records, 19 European records and 20 world records were set. Only weightlifter Vasily Alekseev broke the world record seven times in one evening. According to the results of the Spartakiad, the athletes of the RSFSR team won the first place.
The 6th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1975. Participants of the Spartakiad set 21 USSR records and 6 world records. According to the results of the competition, the team of the RSFSR took the first place.
The 7th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1979. 8300 Soviet athletes and over 2000 athletes from 84 other countries of the world participated in the finals. The first place in the number of awards was taken by the RSFSR team.
The 8th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1983. 17 world records and 22 USSR records were set. The team of the RSFSR won the team event.
The 9th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1986. Representatives of the RSFSR team won the most awards.
The 10th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR was held in 1991. The team of the RSFSR was the leader in awards.
During these years, outstanding Soviet athletes shone: Arkady Vorobyov, Yuri Vlasov, Leonid Zhabotinsky, Vasily Alekseev (weightlifting), Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, Irina Rodnina, Lyudmila Pakhomova ( figure skating), Pyotr Bolotnikov, Vladimir Kuts, Valery Borzov, Valery Brumel, Romuald Klim, Sergey Bubka ( Athletics), Evgeny Grishin, Lydia
Skoblikova (speed skating), Larisa Latynina, Boris Shakhlin, Nikolai Andrianov, Mikhail Voronin, Lyudmila Turishcheva, Olga Korbut (gymnastics), Boris Lagutin (boxing), Alexander Medved (wrestling), Viktor Krovopuskov (fencing), Vladimir Salnikov (swimming) and hundreds of other names.
Today, Soviet sport is surrounded by myths. One of these myths says that Soviet athletes achieved outstanding success only at the cost of wild exploitation by the state. Great athletes lived under the yoke of strict political orders to "win at all costs", they were kept in a black body, without money, and then they were supposedly thrown out into the street and covered with oblivion.
Arkady Vorobyov (two-time Olympic champion in weightlifting):
Then they supported the athletes as best they could. Medals of the championships of the Soviet Union, scholarships for leading athletes, for members of the national team were established. For world records and winnings of the championship of the Union, they also encouraged money. After such a terrible war, there was no time for luxury: the country was not able to pay huge sums. But compared to the usual
the salary was a lot of money - it was easy for good athletes to buy cars ... Of course, we always strived to win, but there is no need to talk about some kind of political pressure - it was pure sports desire!
60. The development of sports in the USSR in the post-war years (1945 - 1960)
61. Significance of the USSR's entry into the Olympic movement. The results of the participation of athletes in the games of the xv Olympiad.
In addition to Helsinki, Amsterdam, Athens, Detroit, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Lausanne, and Stockholm claimed to host the Olympics. Winning the capital of Finland. It was planned to hold the Games here back in 1940, but they were prevented by the Second World War. Soviet athletes participated in all the numbers of the program, with the exception of field hockey, which at that time was not cultivated in the Soviet Union.
The first gold medal in the history of Soviet sports was awarded to discus thrower Nina Romashkova (Ponomareva). This outstanding athlete managed to win another gold medal 8 years later at the Roman Olympics. At the XVI Olympic Games in Melbourne (1956), she took third place. Eight times (in the period 1951-1959), this brilliant athlete became the champion of the USSR.
With a new world record - 15 m 28 cm - the Soviet shot putter Galina Zybina won. It must be said that the women's track and field tournament was distinguished by the sharpest struggle. Athletes fought for the championship title in nine disciplines. Eight Olympic records have been updated and five world records have been set. As a result of women's athletics competitions, the USSR team was the best, having won the largest number of prizes.
The Czechoslovak stayer Emil Zatopek became the hero of the Olympics, having won three gold medals in the 5,000, 10,000 m and marathon races. At the same time, this outstanding athlete set Olympic records at each of the distances. Soviet athletes excelled in freestyle and classical wrestling, gymnastics, shooting and weightlifting; were second in competitions in rowing, basketball, boxing, athletics. In third place was the team of Hungary - 259.5 points and 42 medals (16, 10, 16).
62. Spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR and their importance for the development of sports in the country.
Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR- mass sports competitions in the USSR in 1956-1991. Two types of sports days of the peoples of the USSR were held: summer sports days of the peoples of the USSR, as a rule, were organized in the pre-Olympic year, and winter sports days of the peoples of the USSR - two years before the Olympic Games.
The Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR are called upon to promote a truly broad development of sports, its introduction into the life of a Soviet person, the creation of conditions for sports improvement, preparation for the Olympic Games - the development of the highest sportsmanship of those who turned out to be the strongest among millions of sports fans. They are entrusted with the protection of the sporting honor of our Motherland at the world sports forum. The Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR, which have entered the life of our country since 1956, have gained great popularity and have become a program for the development of mass physical culture and sports in all corners of our country. The first stage of the Spartakiad - competitions in physical culture teams of enterprises, collective farms, state farms, construction sites and institutions, educational institutions and military units - brings millions of people to the starts. Spartakiads are also very important in preparing Soviet athletes for participation in major international competitions - championships, championships and, of course, the Olympic Games. Now, looking back at 9 summer and 6 winter Spartakiads, we can safely say: they played a huge role in the outstanding success of Soviet athletes at the Olympic Games. The heroes of the Spartakiad very often became the heroes of the Olympics. The first Summer Spartakiad was opened by Vyacheslav Ivanov, who later became an outstanding rower and three-time Olympic champion. Another discovery of the Games was the 18-year-old boxer Vladimir Safronov. The coaches took the risk of entrusting the first-class player with a place in the Olympic team: from distant Melbourne, Vladimir returned as an Olympic champion and Honored Master of Sports. The triumphant victories of Vladimir Kuts, the champion of the Spartakiad, who later became a two-time Olympic champion, are widely known. Many Leningrad athletes began their Olympic path at the Spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR.
Moscow 1980
Probably everyone knows what the Olympic Games are, many love and appreciate them. Each time, huge crowds of spectators and many athletes gather for the next games. Participation in the Olympic Games is a major achievement for every athlete. For Russia, the Olympic Games an important part cultural heritage, because the USSR for the entire time of its participation in the Olympic Games was in the lead in the overall standings of the games, Soviet athletes won first places, set records and remained the best athletes world, competing only with the United States.
The Olympic Games have been around since antiquity. In the 19th century, known for its reverent attitude to ancient times, the idea arose to revive the Olympic Games. The idea was that people would be able to compete and fight peacefully in sports rather than on the battlefield. This idea belonged to the French baron - Pierre de Coubertin. Thanks to him, in 1894 the International Olympic Committee was founded, the model of the Olympic Games was created and the rules were approved. We can say that it was thanks to the enthusiasm of this man that the first Olympic Games of our time were held in 1896.
Cortina D'Ampezzo 1956
As you know, the Olympic Games are held every four years. Since 1924, the Winter Olympic Games have also been held, although in 1994 the timing of their holding was shifted by two years relative to the summer games.
In the USSR, the Olympic Games were held only once in 1980 in Moscow. The mascot of these XXII Summer Games was Olympic bear. And the XXII Winter Olympic Games of 2014 in Sochi are being held for the first time in Russia.
Olympic Games in the USSR
The USSR is a mighty sports powerAs you know, the USSR as a country appeared on political maps in 1922. Back in 1920, Vsevobuch (universal military training), as an organization of the USSR, tried to send a delegation to the Olympic Games, but nothing happened, because European countries avoided and ignored the USSR as best they could. And only after the end of the Second World War, the USSR became a participant in the Olympic Games. In 1951, the USSR Olympic Committee was organized and admitted to the IOC.
For the first time the USSR took part in the Olympic Games in 1952 in Helsinki. The USSR team consisted of 295 participants. The first participation - and immediately took 2nd place in the overall standings of the games. First Olympic champion The USSR was Nina Ponomareva Romashkina. She took the gold medal in the track and field discus throwing competition, setting a record of 51.42 m. In total, the Soviet Union team won 22 gold medals, 30 silver and 19 bronze.
USSR Olympic football team 1956
In 1956, the city of Cortina d'Apmezzo hosted the Winter Olympic Games, in which the USSR also participated for the first time. Then our country won a confident victory in the overall standings of the games - 16 medals were taken, of which 7 were gold. Several Soviet athletes became Olympic champions: speed skaters Boris Shilkov and Yuri Mikhailov (distance 500 m and 1500 m), skier Lyubov Kozyreva (10 km race), speed skater Evgeny Grishin became the champion twice (500 m and 1500 m). ), as well as the USSR men's ski team and the USSR national ice hockey team.
The 1960 Olympic Games, held in Rome, were just as successful for the USSR. The USSR national team took first place both in the total number of awards and in the number of all medals. For example, in the competition gymnastics, Soviet athletes took 15 out of 16 medals. The famous Olympic champion Larisa Latynina won 6 awards in 1960. In total, the Soviet Union received 103 medals, of which 43 were gold.
The 1964 and 1968 Olympics also brought the Soviet Union 2nd place. At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, 96 medals were won, of which 30 were gold, and at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, 91 medals were won, of which 29 were gold.
Between 1952 and 1968, about 28 Soviet athletes became Olympic champions.
The 1972 Olympics in Sapporo was a difficult task for Soviet athletes: by the 50th anniversary of the USSR, they had to win 50 gold medals and overtake the United States in the number of medals. It's hard to imagine, but the athletes fulfilled these requirements - they took exactly 50 gold medals! Eight Soviet athletes became the winners of the Olympic Games. Anatoly Bondarchuk installed new record in hammer throwing, Lyudmila Bragina started three times at a distance of 1500 meters and improved the world record all three times, Nikolai Avilov set a world record in decathlon.
The 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, again brought the USSR 1st place and as many as 125 medals, of which 49 were gold.
olympiad 1980 in Moscow
In 1980, the XXII Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow. But they were boycotted by more than 50 countries due to the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979. Nevertheless, some athletes from these countries came to the Olympics on their own. In total, 80 countries took part in the Moscow Olympiad. The USSR once again took 1st place, taking 195 medals, of which as many as 80 gold. Alexander Dityatin succeeded in something that no other participant in gymnastics has ever managed to do - he took 8 medals in 8 types of competitions. Alexander Melentiev set a world record in 50m pistol shooting, which no one has been able to beat for 30 years.
The XXIII Summer Olympic Games in 1984 in Los Angeles were boycotted by the USSR in response to the US boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games.
Seoul 1988 Olympics
The 1988 Olympic Games were held in Seoul. These were the last Olympic Games for the USSR in history. At that time, the USSR again took first place, collecting 132 medals, of which 55 were gold.
For the entire period of the USSR's participation in the Olympic Games, 44 Soviet athletes became Olympic champions who received 3 or more gold medals. Soviet athletes took part in 18 Olympic Games (9 summer and 9 winter) and each time demonstrated incredible sports achivments, excellent training, set world records. The USSR has always been in the lead in the overall standings and has never dropped below 2nd place. The USSR took 2nd place in the number of medals in the history of the Olympic Games - 1204 medals, of which as many as 473 gold. They were really the best, strong in both body and spirit, athletes who never lost and always proudly glorified their country.
Bagdasaryan V.E.
Modern problems of service and tourism. - 2008. - No. 3. - P.10-27.
Olympics-80 and Olympic tourism through the prism of the Cold War
The article deals with the issues of Olympic tourism from an ideological perspective, emphasizes the role of the Olympic Games in confronting different political systems.
The Moscow Olympics certainly had to surpass the previous Olympic Games in organizational terms. For the sake of demonstrating this superiority, implying a conclusion about the advantages of the socialist system, it was carried out. Delegations of the Organizing Committee were present at the Games of the XXI Olympiad in Montreal, at the Winter Olympic Games in Innsburk and Lake Placid, as well as at regional games and major international competitions. 1
In the methodological manuals of the pre-Olympic cycle, the experience of organizing the Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR was invariably promoted. Held a year before the Olympic Games, they were classified in one of the Intourist manuals as our “national Olympiads”. Indeed, the Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR were of tremendous importance both in terms of sports preparation for the main starts of the four years, and in terms of acquiring organizational skills. 2 10,644 athletes took part in the finals of the VII Summer Spartakiad in 1979, of which 2,306 were foreign, representing 84 countries of the world. The course of the competition was covered by 1368 journalists, including 907 foreign ones from 46 countries. Television reports were conducted on the systems of Intervision and Eurovision, and were also transmitted to America and Japan. 3
The Soviet leadership made no secret of its intentions to use the Moscow Olympics for ideological purposes. Back in 1975, the Propaganda Department (headed by V.G. Shevchenko) was established in the structure of the Organizing Committee of the Olympics-80. Even in the preamble of the official report organizing committee The games emphasized that their most important achievement was the provision of thousands of foreign tourists with the opportunity to get acquainted with the life of Soviet society. 4
The duties of the propaganda department of the Olympic Organizing Committee included, in particular, the study of the materials of the bourgeois propaganda campaign in relation to the Olympics. A special resolution of December 26, 1978 set the task of "strengthening the collection of information about the nature of speeches about the Olympic Games in Moscow, including the position of hostile Maoist propaganda regarding the Olympics-80." five
During the Cold War, the Olympics, like international sports in general, they have acquired the role of a significant factor in the ideological confrontation of systems. Even J. Kennedy declared that the position of states in the modern world is determined by the number of nuclear warheads and gold Olympic medals. The psychosocial motives of war were extrapolated to sports in the era of weapons of mass destruction.
Sharp political collisions were marked by the previous summer Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976. XX Olympic Games in Montreal left a number of delegations from African countries, protesting against sports cooperation between the IOC and South Africa. In a long series of Olympic political scandals, the Moscow Olympics could not avoid them either.
As is known, in early 1980 the US government called for the postponement or cancellation of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. An unprecedented propaganda rivalry between supporters and opponents of holding the Olympic Games in the USSR began. As a result, the IOC at its 82nd session in Lake Placid, timed to coincide with the Winter Olympics, confirmed the decision made in 1974 that the XXII Olympic Games would be held in Moscow. At the same time, the US proposal to organize "alternative games" was rejected. A new phase of the pre-Olympic propaganda struggle began on the issue of a boycott of the Moscow Olympics. 6
The Organizing Committee of the Olympics-80 did a lot of diplomatic and propaganda work, urging governments, National Olympic Committees and travel agencies to take part in Olympic program. Since the start of the "boycott campaign" alone, his delegations have paid official visits to 77 countries. In more than 70 countries, special advertising and propaganda exhibitions "Olympic Games-80" were organized. Reduced, in comparison with the Olympic Games in Montreal, quantitative representation by country, was partially offset by the delegations of new members of the IOC. Basically, they represented states traditionally following in the wake of Soviet policy: Cyprus, Vietnam, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, Zimbabwe. Although the latter was proclaimed an independent republic just four months before the opening of the Olympics, but thanks to the lobbying of the Soviet side, it managed to enter the IOC during this period and sent a delegation of 46 people, quite representative for the third world, to Moscow. 7
The national committees of five Muslim states established from 1976 to 1980 abstained from participating in the Moscow Olympic Games: Mauritania, Bangladesh, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. This decision is explained by the resonance of the Afghan events and the solidarity of Muslims with fellow believers. The Olympics-80 for the first time clearly reflected the fact of the loss of the former attractiveness of the USSR in the Arab world. The theme of the Arab-Israeli confrontation was virtually absent in the ideological work with foreign tourists during the period of the Olympic Games. Unlike the Festival of Youth and Students, the propaganda arsenal of the 1980 Olympics was free from the ideologies of pan-Arabism and Arab socialism. No joint forums of Arab delegations, which took place during the Festival, were held at the Olympic Games. Probably, a certain cooling of Soviet ideologists towards the Arab East was determined by the syndrome of the Camp David agreement. Sadat's Egypt, along with other countries in the Middle East, boycotted the Moscow Olympics. 8
The most important ideological direction of work with foreign tourists during the Olympic Games in the USSR was the condemnation of racism and apartheid in sports. Organizing Committee of the Games XXII Olympiad obtained from the IOC a decision that representatives of South Africa should not be allowed into the Olympic Moscow, not only as athletes or technical officials, but also as tourists. This step, which was contrary to the principles of international tourism declared in 1975 in Helsinki, was very popular among the colored population of Africa. The organizing committee appealed to the decisions of the International Conference against Apartheid, held in June 1977 in Geneva. It demanded that governments break off political, cultural, sports, trade and diplomatic relations with South Africa, and take measures to stop the emigration of citizens to South Africa. nine
Propaganda rivalry between the USSR and the USA on the issue of the trip of athletes from African countries to the Olympics in Moscow went on with varying degrees of success. The trip to Africa was undertaken, in particular, by the then three-time world boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who was then at the zenith of fame, urging Africans to boycott the Moscow Olympic Games in his speeches. For Soviet ideologists, such a position of a popular athlete, who was defined as a fighter against American racism and considered “ours”, turned out to be unexpected. Meanwhile, Mohammed Ali was quite consistent in fighting initially American aggression in Vietnam and then Soviet aggression in Afghanistan.
On the issue of a boycott of the Moscow Olympics, there are certain tendencies in the position of African countries. Thus, the Muslim states of Africa, with rare exceptions, boycotted the games. On the contrary, active support for the Olympics was provided by the countries included in the zone of aggression of South Africa. 10
A fierce struggle was waged to win over the president of the All-African Supreme Council for Sports, A. Ordia (Nigeria), which ended with the success of the USSR. eleven
The arrival of delegations from developing countries to Moscow was paid for by the Organizing Committee of the 1980 Olympics. This kind of philanthropy was unparalleled in the history of the Olympic movement. For some of the underdeveloped countries of the third world, the full payment of their athletes' travel to the Olympic Games has become a decisive factor in the decision on the participation of their respective National Committees in the Olympics. The unprecedented funding of foreign sports delegations confirms the thesis that the Olympics, as well as international tourism in general, was considered in the USSR more from an ideological than a commercial perspective. 12
As a result, for one reason or another, their representatives were not sent to the Olympic Games in the USSR: the USA, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, China, Turkey, Albania, South Korea, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Egypt, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Bolivia, Thailand, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Zaire, South Africa, Israel and a number of third world countries with less developed sports infrastructure. 5,748 athletes representing 81 National Olympic Committees, as well as 2,556 officials of sports delegations, including 28 European countries, 14 Asian, 22 African, 15 Latin American, as well as Australia and New Zealand, were registered by registered applications. By no means all of the listed countries that boycotted the Olympic Games followed in the footsteps of American politics. Some of them, such as China, Albania and Iran, have completely disintegrated from the world Olympic movement. Other states did not find the necessary financial resources for delegating their athletes to the USSR.
A great diplomatic success was the participation in the Olympic Games of the sports delegation of Great Britain (135 nominal applications). It was achieved despite the fact that the government of M. Thatcher acted as one of the initiators of the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. In the Soviet animated film "Baba Yaga Against", the fabulous evil spirits, represented by the images of Baba Yaga, Koshchei the Immortal and the Serpent Gorynych, who unsuccessfully tried to disrupt the Olympic Games, personified, respectively, Great Britain, the USA and Germany. The key role in this anti-Olympic fairy-tale conspiracy was assigned to the British prototype, in which the Iron Lady herself was ridiculed through the grotesque forms of the Soviet cartoon caricature. The UK NOC has shown its autonomy in relation to the political pressure of the government. The decisive role in sending British athletes to Moscow was played by the position of the IOC President, Lord M. Killanin, an Englishman. For him, the Moscow Olympic Games were the last in the presidency, and he did not want to let them fail in any way. At the next session of the IOC in Moscow, the Spaniard J.A. was elected as the new acting president. Samaranch, and M. Killanin received an honorary lifelong presidential title. Lord M. Killanin was even called the "Red Lord" for his loyal attitude towards the Soviet Union. Juan Antonio Samaranch was also not a complete stranger to the Soviet Union. For some time he was the Spanish ambassador to the USSR.
A number of National Olympic Committees of the countries of the British Commonwealth have decided to participate in the Olympics, focusing on the position of the UK NOC. It is no coincidence that the Organizing Committee of the Moscow Olympic Games assisted the delegations of the states of the British Commonwealth in holding various kinds of joint events. The same joint forums were held for the delegations of Africa and the countries participating in the Pan American Games. 13
There is no consensus on how many countries took part in the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. Soviet publications indicated that there were 30 of them, while American ones ranged from 30 to 60. 14 It is surprising that the modern Russian media unanimously name the largest number of such statistics out of the entire spectrum of such statistics - 65 countries. The reason for these discrepancies was determined by the ambiguity of determining which of the countries boycotted the Games and which did not send their athletes for other, for example, financial reasons.
A number of sports delegations went to the Olympic Games in Moscow, despite the decision of their governments to boycott them. During their performances, it was forbidden to use the state symbols of the respective countries - flags and anthems. As a result 12 national teams competed under the flag of the IOC, and 3 - under the flags of the NOC. In case of their victories, the anthem of the International Olympic Committee sounded. However, there were incidents of violation of prohibitions on the use of state symbols, such as, for example, during the awarding of the English runner S. Coe or the Italian shooter L. Giovanetti, when tourists from England and Italy performed the national anthems. 15
Characteristically, the theme of Afghanistan was completely absent from the Soviet propaganda campaign during the Olympics. The very basis for the decision by the US and a number of its allies to boycott the Moscow Olympics has been passed over in silence. It was said that the USSR was accused of intending not to comply with the rules and regulations of the Olympic Charter. The inept concealment of the true motives of the boycott had a negative impact on the perception of the Soviet Union by a significant part of foreign tourists. At the same time, the Organizing Committee of the Olympics managed to ensure the participation of 11 Afghan athletes in the games. The representation of the Afghan sports delegation at the Moscow Olympics was supposed to indicate a stable political situation in the country. 16
On the other hand, foreign tourists were given to understand that the propaganda of the boycott of the Olympic Games began in the West even before the events in Afghanistan. Its beginning dates back to May 1978. The coincidence of the timing of anti-Olympic propaganda in various states was presented by the Soviet side as evidence of "the presence of Western countries coordinated plan to use the Olympics-80 to slander the socialist system as a whole, attempts to put pressure on Soviet Union". 17
American society was no less ideological than the Soviet one. The boycott syndrome in the United States often acquired curious forms. The ban, in particular, was established on the sale of the Bear souvenir - Olympic mascot Moscow Games. Having bought a significant batch of them, the company R. Daykin & Company, in order to avoid losses, found a way out by dressing Mishka in a T-shirt with figures of hockey players and the letters "USA". However, not all Americans agreed with the boycott. Representatives of 35 American firms even established the Coalition Against the Olympic Boycott. eighteen
The US NOC boycott of the 1980 Olympics did not mean the absence of American tourists in the USSR. During the period of the games, more than a thousand Americans arrived in Moscow. A few days before the opening of the Olympics, a group of Americans arrived in Tbilisi to take part in the work of the international sports congress. The US NOC itself, having refrained from sending athletes to the USSR, nonetheless sent its representatives to meetings of international sports federations, including the 83rd session of the International Olympic Committee in Moscow. To cover the course of the Olympics, 114 American journalists and 60 employees of the NBC television company, accredited by the organizing committee of the Games, arrived in the Soviet capital. Thus, Soviet propaganda publications rightly noted, “only those who really had to come to Moscow remained at home: athletes, coaches and 60 American judges.” 19
As a rule, behind the screen of the global ideological confrontation between the USSR and the USA during the period of the Olympic Games, Soviet counter-propaganda measures regarding the “information war” by China are hidden. Meanwhile, in addition to the American boycott of the Olympics, there was also a Chinese boycott. The Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games was extremely alarmed by the warning of the Spanish magazine "Cambio - 16" (August 1978) about a major political scandal being prepared by China for the time of the Olympics in Moscow. It was supposed to be initiated by a delegation of Chinese tourists who, under the pretext of participation in the Olympic Games of athletes from Israel and South Korea(in fact, their Olympic committees boycotted the games, but this was not yet known in 1978), would urge third world countries to organize a wide boycott of them after the official opening ceremony. China's anti-Olympic propaganda was addressed to the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Organizing Committee of the Olympics expressed concern about the lack of information regarding Maoist anti-Olympic propaganda. Although the "Chinese scandal" did not take place at the Games, the Organizing Committee was actively working to prevent it. twenty
A serious problem for the Organizing Committee in realizing the idea of holding the best Olympic Games in history could be the backlog of the USSR in the development of electronic technology. In 1977–78 A contract was signed with IBM (USA) for participation in the work of the Ministry of Instrumentation on the development of the Olympiad automated control system project. However, since December 1979, the actual co-executors refused to supply additional equipment and further cooperation. Did not fulfill its obligations to the Soviet side for the supply of video recorders, television cameras, video tapes, as well as for the delegation of one hundred of its representatives, a longtime partner of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, the American company Ampex.
However, by that time the Olympiad information support system had already passed experimental testing at the VII Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR and the XXXI International Baltic Regatta. The fact of the belated refusal of the Americans was used by Soviet propaganda to assert the priority of the USSR in the development of electronic and information technologies. 21 Even some of the American publications accredited to the Moscow Olympics admitted that they had revised their previous idea of the level of informatization in the USSR. “The games,” the Washington Post stated, “were well organized. There were no technical problems in hosting and publicizing the competition, problems that were predicted after the US and some other countries refused to export equipment for the Olympics. The sophisticated computer information system worked flawlessly.” 22 Thomas Kent, head of the Associated Press office in Moscow, also described the work of the organizers of the Olympics in establishing the technical means of information and communication as “excellent”. 23
The government was aware of the lack of the necessary number of professional personnel to provide high-level service to foreign tourists during the Olympics. To solve this problem, a special five-year program for the development of areas under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR, the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on vocational education, the Ministry of Instrument Engineering, Automation and Control Systems, the Ministry of Health of the USSR, the Ministry of Culture of the USSR . In addition, there were short-term courses for teaching students the skills of service professions. However, the accelerated pace of personnel training for the service system had an inversely proportional effect on its quality. The service infrastructure developed in the West for centuries could not be created at the same level, with the same traditions, in one inter-Olympic cycle. 24
The staff involved in servicing the Olympic delegations amounted to 128,185 people. More than 300 institutions and organizations representing 60 ministries have delegated their employees to these works. Thus, for each Olympian, there were on average 6 service personnel. Particularly impressive are the numbers of translators trained for work at the Olympiad, the number of which amounted to 10.5 thousand people. 70105 students were, in accordance with the Soviet tradition, also involved in the implementation of the formulated state task.
The first steps to organize ideological work with foreign tourists, in connection with the preparations for the Olympics-80, were outlined by the Organizing Committee of the Games back in May 1977. The Special Olympic Commission decided to intensify counter-propaganda activities. It turned out that the “counter-propaganda campaign” began earlier than the “propaganda campaign”, which traditionally dates back to 1978. The USSR Chief Tourist developed special tourist routes for foreigners visiting the Soviet capital - “Pre-Olympic Moscow”, illustrating the high degree of readiness of the Soviet Union to host the Olympics. The Propaganda Department of the Olympic Organizing Committee has issued official methodological manuals for conducting propaganda work with foreign tourists. Articles have been published on the issue of security at the Olympics. 25
When working with foreign tourists during the Olympics, Intourist employees tried to refrain from openly propaganda rhetoric and communist phraseology. Its use would only play into the hands of opponents of the Olympic Games in Moscow, who warned tourists from Western countries that they would be indoctrinated in the Soviet capital. However, in the materials of the Organizing Committee of the Olympics-80, intended for official use, the rhetoric was completely different. Here is what was said in the preamble of the instruction on counter-propaganda for its workers of 1978: “The peaceful offensive of socialism, the triumph of its ideas are forcing anti-communists to increasingly transfer the center of gravity of their subversive work to the most subtle and complex area of human relations - to the sphere of spiritual activity. Imperialist circles and their propaganda organs are intensifying their search for new forms, methods and arguments which, according to their calculations, could influence world public opinion. In this regard, they also use the Olympics-80 ... This anti-Olympic campaign is integral part the efforts of imperialist propaganda to discredit the domestic and foreign policies of the socialist countries. The culmination of the campaign was the introduction of a resolution in the US Congress proposing to postpone Summer Games 1980 from Moscow to Montreal because of "Russian refusal to respect human rights". 26
Back in 1978, based on the analysis of Western propaganda against the Olympics-80 in Moscow, the logos of the main "Counter-propaganda" theses for Soviet guides-interpreters were developed. The document, intended for official use, received the name "The main directions of hostile propaganda in connection with the Olympics-80 and proposals for counter-propaganda." Five main directions of ideological policy were identified.
Propaganda Model #1. The Western mass media widely use the thesis that it is impossible to hold the Olympics in a country that does not respect human rights. The Olympic Games in the Western media, explained in the instructions of the Organizing Committee, are artificially associated "with trials of dissidents and traitors." Parallels are drawn between the Olympics in Moscow and in Berlin (1936). It was predicted that the Soviet Union might impose a visa ban on tourists from countries with which it did not have diplomatic relations. The consequence of holding the Olympic Games in Moscow will be the aggravation of the problems of the “two Chinas”, “African countries and South Africa”, etc. The Olympics itself provides the USSR with an opportunity to expand its influence in developing countries. 27
The exaggeration in connection with the Olympics-80 of the thesis about non-observance of "human rights" in the USSR is an attempt to put political pressure on him and discredit the very idea of socialism. It was recommended to quote the statements of IOC officials about the existence of a contract with Moscow to host the Games. With regard to the question of the participation of African athletes in the Olympics, "refer to the records of the General Assembly of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa". On the examples of the statements of Soviet statesmen and public figures, to carry out the idea that the USSR does not pursue any other goals than those expressed in the principles of the Olympic movement. In general, the response logo in this area of criticism was designed in the format of official protocol citation. 28
Propaganda Model #2. The USSR, it was stated in a number of Western publications, intends to improve its economic affairs and earn currency through the Olympics. As an example, references were made to contracts with the American companies NBC and Coca-Cola. 29
Counter-propaganda logo. It was recommended to emphasize that the 1980 Olympics are being held in the spirit of international detente and, in accordance with the principles of Olympism, are carried out on the basis of economic, scientific and technical cooperation between countries belonging to different social systems. The doctrine of peace policy should explain the fact of the cooperation of the Olympic Organizing Committee with many capitalist countries in the supply of appropriate equipment by them. At the same time, it should be noted that the organizers of the Olympiad used, first of all, the potential of the domestic industry. The guides were offered statistics, according to which, the Soviet Union solves Olympic needs by three quarters at the expense of its own technical capabilities, by 20% - thanks to the help of the countries of the socialist community, and only 5% - through purchases in the West. The latter is explained by the need to have standard equipment traditional for the Olympic Games, in the production of which certain firms specialize. thirty
Propaganda Model #3. A warning was put forward that, unlike other Olympics, the USSR would only grant visas to officially approved tourist groups. Low level development of service in the Soviet Union will not allow him to create proper comfortable conditions for athletes and tourists. 31
The guides were asked to remind foreigners about the gigantic work to restore the national economy in the USSR in the post-war years, which was supposed to illustrate the organizational potential Soviet system, which allows counting on the prompt resolution of all issues related to the Olympics. A reference to Moscow's experience in organizing the reception of various tourist groups and their personal services during the numerous international forums and competitions held in the Soviet capital was used as the main argument to remove doubts about the capabilities of the Soviet service system. The intention was declared to receive 600,000 tourists during the Olympics, 300,000 of them from abroad. For comparison, the Montreal Olympic Games were visited by 268,000 foreign tourists, 205,000 of which were Americans. Each foreign tourist was promised tickets for 5-6 competitions per week (in Montreal - 3 each), at more affordable prices than in previous games. 32
Propaganda Model #4. It has been suggested that the Western media will be under total censorship and control at the Moscow Olympics. The demonstration of the games will be "red propaganda". 33
Counter-propaganda logo. Allegations of Soviet censorship were classified as "slanderous". For answers to them, it was proposed to quote the words of the executive director of the US National Olympic Committee, Don Miller: “Since the Olympic Games will be covered by over 7 thousand representatives of the press, I cannot imagine how Moscow could censor the press in order to conceal from the outside world facts related to with the Olympic Games… We have a guarantee that there will be no restrictions on the media.” 34 The fact that the US NOC would further support the idea of a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1978, the representatives of the Organizing Committee did not yet assume, and therefore recommended their employees to appropriate citation.
Propaganda Model #5. The successes of the athletes of the USSR and the GDR were interpreted by a number of Western publications as a result of ongoing biological experiments. Children's sports in the socialist countries were presented as a conveyor belt providing material for "champions". "The state uses children as raw material for a medal-making machine." 35
Counter-propaganda logo. Soviet propagandists were charged with the task of explaining that in the socialist countries sport is regarded as one of the important recreational activities and conditions for the education of a harmoniously developed personality. The system of training athletes in the USSR is built on a purely voluntary basis. The successes of Soviet athletes are explained not by biological experiments, but by an inextricable connection with the mass public physical culture movement. 36
As part of the implementation of the Olympic propaganda campaign, an unprecedented in scale indoctrination of foreign tourists in the USSR was carried out. According to the Glavintourist, more than 50% of foreigners who arrived in the Soviet Union in 1978 listened to special lecture programs, 60% of foreign tourists participated in friendship evenings and professional meetings. 37
A special supplement to the methodological manual on working with foreign tourists in 1980 was a compilation of arguments in favor of a one-party political system. Intourist analysts assumed that the one-party system in the USSR would become the main object of criticism during the Olympic Games. Historical arguments boiled down to exposing the counter-revolutionary mission of the political opponents of the Bolsheviks. 38
The democratic nature of the Soviet one-party system was justified through the disclosure of the principle of democratic centralism. The attention of foreigners, convinced of the unconditional value of a multi-party system, was given a detailed apology for a one-party regime: “In response to reproaches heard from another camp about the “undemocratic” nature of communist parties (since they do not recognize factions), it can be said that the true democracy of a society is not in its multi-party system and not in the indispensable presence of the opposition, but in the rights that parties grant to their members, and in the actual opportunity to use them. No party gives its members such wide opportunities to participate in inner-party life as the communist parties do, in other parties everything usually comes down to "suffrage". The democracy of communist parties is expressed in the active participation of every communist in the work of the party, not only through elected representatives, but directly. The role played by the primary party organizations in the life of every Communist Party speaks of the deep democratism of the revolutionary vanguard of the working class. No parties, except for the communist ones, had primary organizations in enterprises. At the same time, the party does not act as a sum of individual organizations, but as a single party organism, where all links are interconnected. Isn't the principle of democratic centralism inherently democratic, which is the basis of the activity of any communist party? Any communist or group of communists has the right to criticize, demand a change or even annulment of this or that decision, appeal to any instances, up to the highest, which are obliged to consider the appeal in the most careful way. If the majority of party members still speak in favor of this decision, from that moment on, all opposition should be stopped (the minority was given the opportunity to convince the majority that they were right). Without this principle, the party would have turned, according to Lenin, into a debating club that could not put a single decision into practice. 39
Another likely direction of criticism was the non-observance of human rights in the USSR. The guide-interpreter, when putting forward such judgments by foreigners, was recommended to initially emphasize the full compliance of the Soviet Constitution with the most important international documents. At the next stage of the conversation, he pointed out to his opponent "that the exercise of the rights and freedoms of citizens requires due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and the satisfaction of the just requirements of the morality of public order and the general welfare in a democratic society." 40 Thus, the restriction of freedom and the persecution of dissidents in the USSR was interpreted as measures to ensure this very freedom.
In the context of introducing the Olympic Village to foreigners, guide-interpreters reported that the rent in the USSR was the lowest in the world. The fact that since 1928 the cost of housing in the Soviet Union remained unchanged (13 kopecks per 1 sq. m. of living space) was presented as a huge social achievement. 41
Another direction of propaganda during the period of the Olympic Games was the image of Moscow as an ecologically ideal city. If before foreigners were informed about the opening of new factories, now they are informed about their withdrawal outside the city limits. At the sight of Moscow - the river, the guide - interpreter told tourists that since 1976 the city state inspection had not registered a single case of fish dying in it due to the fault of industrial enterprises. Indeed, the Olympic Moscow gave the impression of a city that completely solved environmental problems. 42
Ideological overtones are also found in official Olympic events. Triumphal colorful ceremonies were organized along the route of the Olympic torch relay. Foreigners were given the opportunity to visit the settlements of Moldavia, Ukraine, and Russia, which were previously closed for wide international tourism. True, often the inhabitants of the respective settlements, in order to avoid undesirable political incidents, found themselves during the celebration of the meeting of the Olympic flame, for the most part, locked in their homes. Foreign tourists were met on deserted streets only by officials and folklore groups. Unlike previous international forums held in the USSR, the main focus was not on demonstrating economic achievements, but on presenting the national and historical characteristics of the respective regions. Apparently, a fundamentally new ideological task was set - to convince foreigners that the USSR is a normal state, accumulating folk tradition, free from left-wing radical experiments. Soviet themes were replaced by plots and ceremonies illustrating national identity. Thus, the Olympics-80 had a fundamentally different ideological background than the Festival-57, reflecting the differences between the Brezhnev and Khrushchev spiritual vectors of the country's development. 43
The opening and closing ceremonies of the XXII Olympic Games have been repeatedly described in the literature and analyzed as a grandiose propaganda show. Therefore, there is no need to reconstruct the ideological background of the presented scenario. The pathos of the ceremonies was aimed at an apology for peace, the policy of which is implemented by the country hosting the Olympics. Accordingly, it was understood that the states that boycotted the Olympic Games exposed themselves as adepts of international confrontation. Only the speeches of IOC official representatives were somewhat knocked out of the detailed scenario. However, the words of Lord M. Killanin, who called for reconciliation of the warring sides in the Olympic year, were interpreted as a condemnation of the United States and its allies. Dissonant with Soviet political terminology was his appeal to L.I. Brezhnev "Mr. President". The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU himself, after the operation (there is evidence that he had a set of false teeth), spoke without traditional speech defects and looked quite cheerful. Nevertheless, Brezhnev's Olympic speeches subsequently served as the basis for numerous political jokes about the senile state of the decrepit Soviet leader.
The organizing committee of the Olympics sought to level the plot of the program Olympic relay from Moscow to Los Angeles. The traditional words of greeting to the new Olympic capital were completely excluded from the script. During the closing ceremony of the games, when the formation of the parade participants was completed in the arena of the stadium, the national flags of Greece and the USSR were raised on the flagpoles and the national anthems of both countries were played. Then, instead of the American flag, the Los Angeles flag was raised over the stadium. The US anthem was replaced with the melody of the Olympic anthem. 44
The American tourists who visited the 1980 Olympics received the closest propaganda attention. According to various estimates by the American press, the number of US citizens present at the games ranged from one to three thousand, so there is no need to talk about the exact tourist contingent. American Milton Thor called President Carter's desire to "punish the Soviet Union for its help to neighbor and friend Afghanistan" "wretched and vile." 45 "I felt," said another US representative, Rachel Lubell, "that our trip was part of the victory over Carter's Olympic boycott, which was really a boycott against American athletes and the American people." 46 Dracila Groft, a 22-year-old student from Detroit, who arrived as part of a group of 35 tourists, also stressed that her trip to Moscow itself was a protest against the boycott of the Olympics. “At a time when millions of my brothers and sisters are unemployed,” she said, “and Carter has begun registration [of youth in the army], I want to show the Soviet youth and the Soviet people that not all Americans are ill-disposed toward them.” 47 Obviously, in terms of their political views, the respondents did not represent a characteristic section of American society. The American tourist contingent in the USSR in 1980 had a definite left-wing specificity. According to the Frenchwoman Louis Serezuel, American tourists were rooting for Soviet athletes at the Olympics, and, for example, not for Great Britain or France. 48
A colorful figure among American tourists was 88-year-old Nick Paul. During the opening ceremony of the Games, he, along with his compatriot Daneli Peterson, unfurled the American flag on the podium of the stadium in Luzhniki. A picture of the US flag flying at the Olympic Games in Moscow went around the world's largest newspapers. “We wanted to declare,” Nick Paul explained his act to a Pravda correspondent, “that not all Americans support political game President Carter around the Moscow Olympics. We wanted to announce that American citizens are also present at the opening of the 1980 Olympics and welcome it wholeheartedly. By displaying the American flag, we wanted to show that many, many ordinary citizens of America are outraged that the president sacrificed US athletes in his election campaign. It is very, very unfortunate that American athletes, despite their ardent desire to take part in the Olympic Games, were deprived of the opportunity to come to Moscow for this wonderful celebration of sports! Today I wrote a letter to my daughter and simply could not find words to convey my impressions of Moscow, where I arrived for the first time; about the grandiose, unforgettable opening ceremony of the Olympics. The Soviet capital impressed us with the ideal cleanliness of the streets, the “tasty air” that is so easy to breathe even at my 88 years old. I saw fishermen on the Moskva River, and this also indicates that Muscovites keep their city in exemplary order. All this is in stark contrast to New York, whose streets are covered with sewage, and there is more smog in the air than oxygen. What to do, our politicians prefer to save money on street cleaning and send money to Israeli Zionists.” 49
One of the most famous American tourists at the Olympics was the president of Oxdental Petroleum, a longtime trading partner of the Soviet Union, Armand Hammer. After visiting the Olympic Village, where he was given a symbolic key, the businessman said in an interview with the Sovetsky Sport newspaper: “I'm afraid Los Angeles will be far from Moscow ... Your Olympic Village is convenient from all points of view. And at the same time, she is beautiful. It is as grandiose as the opening ceremony of the Games ... It was a magnificent celebration that set the tone for the entire Olympics. When I return to the USA, I will tell the mayor of Los Angeles that he simply must come to Moscow before the end of the Games. It is useful to see how everything is organized in your capital, to learn!”. fifty
The Organizing Committee of the Olympics included, along with sports figures, also iconic figures of the Soviet regime, leaders power structures V.M. Chebrikov and N.A. Shchelokov. Their functions in it were not limited to overseeing the issues of ensuring the safety of athletes and guests of the Olympics. Chairman of the State Security Committee Chebrikov was also a member of the Operational Presidium of the Organizing Committee. 51
For the period of the Olympics, the entry into Moscow of any type of motor transport was significantly limited. This measure made it possible to avoid traffic jams in the capital and provide comfortable travel conditions for foreign tourists. Moscow transport, which usually does not differ in the accuracy of the schedule, worked smoothly during the Olympics, which was repeatedly noted in the reviews of foreigners. 52
The authorities also limited the entry into the capital of Soviet citizens. As a result of special police raids, gypsy camps were expelled from Moscow. In order to unload the capital, it was strongly recommended to send schoolchildren to pioneer camps. The last of the measures has become a vulnerable point for criticism of the Moscow Olympics by the American media. It was used as one of the main confirmations of the thesis about Moscow as a "closed city". The removal of Moscow children to pioneer camps was explained in the American press by the desire of the Soviet authorities to prevent the influence of the West on the younger generation. “At least 700,000 schoolchildren,” the Chicago Sun-Times claimed, “were sent from the city to summer camps to avoid "ideological contamination", and those who remained in the city were warned by their teachers not to take chewing gum from foreigners because it is contaminated or contains bacteria that spread disease and infection." 53 Many of the foreign tourists visiting the Olympics also commented on the “almost complete absence of children in Moscow during the Games”. 54 Guide-interpreters tried to explain to foreigners that the departure of most children to stationary camps near Moscow and the southern pioneer camps is an annual procedure carried out within the framework of the unified Soviet system of relaxation of schoolchildren during the holidays.
For law enforcement agencies, there was an installation so that measures to ensure the safety of tourists did not cause a feeling of lack of freedom in those. The Olympics was supposed to refute the statements of the American media about the total control of foreigners in Moscow. The very appearance of the Olympic village was designed in such a way as not to evoke associations with a military camp, as was the case at the previous summer Olympics. In Munich, it was surrounded by a two-meter fence with barbed wire, around which armored vehicles and other military equipment patrolled (which, however, did not prevent the terrorist attack against the Israeli delegation). The Montreal Olympic Village had guard posts located on special towers. The organizers of the Moscow Olympics managed to exclude all these elements of the military camp style. “What does not cause two opinions is the Olympic Village,” stated one of the American tourists. - Everyone agrees that she is wonderful. Of course, there are a lot of guards, like in Lake Placid or Montreal, but they only shoot at the game rooms.” 55
According to ABC sportswriter Dick Schaap, his prejudices against Moscow were dispelled on the very first day of his visit to the Soviet capital. “I read in English newspapers,” he admitted, “that Soviet customs officers are carefully examining luggage. But when I put my things in front of the customs officer, he did not even open them ... I was checked in at the Cosmos Hotel in about three minutes, accreditation at the IOC meeting took one minute. 56 Despite receiving warnings that one could die of hunger in Moscow, to Schaap's surprise, he was given an excellent dinner at a restaurant.
Tourist from Nevada B. Eichbaum, when asked how he feels free while at the Olympic Games in Moscow and Leningrad, replied: “I walked freely along the street, and no one stopped me. I spoke with the Russians. I can’t say that I did it freely, because I don’t know Russian, but whoever I spoke to, everyone was very kind and nice to me. A tourist from Oklahoma, A. Hendrick-Wells, who was with him, added: “I walked where I wanted and said what I wanted.” 57
A particularly favorable impression on foreigners was made by the functioning of the “lost and found”. An illusion was created that there was no crime in the Soviet Union. “True, we saw a lot of police here,” Jane Schneefberger, a housewife from Michigan, shared her impressions of the Moscow Olympics. On the other hand, we felt absolutely safe. Once I left my wallet somewhere with money and something else. You can imagine how terrible I felt. But someone found the wallet and gave it back to me." 58
Serving sports delegations and foreign tourists at the Olympic Games in Moscow was an unattainable ideal for the vast majority of Soviet people. Athletes and representatives of the technical staff of the NOCs were on full free allowance, which included accommodation in the hotels of the Olympic Village, meals, medical care, use of a taxi, attendance at concerts. The food ration consisted of 360 main dishes, which were not repeated even once during the work of the Olympiad. The menu of the canteen of the Olympic Village daily included delicacies that had long disappeared from the shelves of Soviet grocery stores: chum salmon with lemon, stellate sturgeon poached in Russian style, marinated pike perch, sturgeon in brine, pressed caviar with lemon, natural crabs, Russian pancakes with caviar caviar and etc. Medical care, in addition to providing urgent assistance, provided services for restorative therapy, physiotherapy (light, electric, heat, and balneotherapy), dentistry. For the first time, a department was opened in the polyclinic of the Olympic Village sports testing and functional diagnostics with special equipment. Athletes who arrived from countries with paid healthcare did not fail to use the services provided. Particularly popular, for obvious reasons, was the department of dentistry. Each of the delegations, depending on its size, was assigned a certain number of cars and minibuses, which they could use for 16 hours a day. In two trading halls of the Moscow Souvenir department store opened in the Olympic Village, exclusive products were sold at significantly reduced prices. As a result, about 260,000 purchases were made by participants and guests of the Games.
Some puritanical recurrences of the Soviet dormitory system manifested themselves in the organization of the access system in the two women's buildings of the Olympic Village. Of the men, the right to free entry was granted only to the heads of delegations and team doctors. In practice, Puritan rules did not work. Alcohol was sold freely in the Olympic Village. There were no obstacles in establishing sexual relations. Discotheques organized every evening were held in the epicurean spirit. The tolerance of the guards to manifestations of this kind of not quite Soviet morality was explained by the installation that foreigners in no way could have a feeling of restrictions on personal freedoms in the Soviet Union.
The theatrical and concert program, in accordance with the official Soviet repertoire, consisted of two components: classical and folklore. Her schedule was drawn up as an illustration of the multinational nature of Soviet culture. One of the evenings, for example, was entirely devoted to the performance of the Evenk folk song and dance ensemble "Osiktakan". The selection of the repertoire for the music salon was carried out by the Soviet record company Melodiya, and therefore the variability of the presented works was limited by the canonical range of musical trends.
The Organizing Committee of the Olympics considered it necessary to demonstrate the religious tolerance of Soviet society. On the second floor of the Cultural Center of the Olympic Village, special rooms were equipped for worship and other religious rites. For their implementation, 6 Orthodox priests, 3 Catholic priests, 3 Lutheran pastors, 3 Baptist presbyters, 1 Anglican clergyman, 2 Muslim imams, 2 rabbis and cantors, 2 Buddhist lamas were co-opted into the permanent staff of the Olympic Village. The largest religious communities in Moscow - Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish - equipped three halls with cult accessories, where up to 200 people in each could take part in services. The service at the Cultural Center of the Olympic Village was conducted by the Patriarch of All Russia Pimen himself. 59
Unlike previous years, traditional Soviet ideologemes were reduced to a minimum in Intourist's methodological manuals for the Olympic year. The excursion programs of Intourist began to contain more information and much less Marxist phraseology. 60
The Western media accused the USSR of intending to give the Olympics an ideological frame, and the Soviet side sought to deflect these accusations from itself.
Even the government of the United States showed markedly benevolent attitude. "At present," the guide-interpreter said at the US embassy, "the development and improvement of Soviet-American relations is a factor that has a considerable influence on world politics." 61 It was emphasized that in addition to traditional cooperation with the socialist countries, close economic ties have also been established with such states as the USA, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Finland, and others. The openness of Soviet economic facilities to compensatory foreign lending was proclaimed. 62
However, without the use of frank propaganda ideologies of the Cold War, it still could not do. So, for example, when foreign tourists visited Sovetskaya Square, the guide-interpreter revealed the topic "The role of the Moscow City Council in turning Moscow into an exemplary communist city." In it, in particular, the guide reported that in 1979, 75% of the funds earned by the Soviet people on Lenin's subbotnik were sent to help the people of Vietnam, who repelled Chinese aggression. 63
The list of Soviet cities intended for visiting foreign tourists during the Olympics was limited. Beyond capitals union republics, it included: Leningrad, Odessa, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Lvov, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Samarkand, Simferopol, Vladimir, Sochi, Bukhara, Zagorsk. Only in the very last place Kazan and Perm were added to them. Thus, such large millionaire cities as Gorky, Kuibyshev, Kharkov, the entire region of Siberia and the Far East remained outside the Intourist routes. 64
Fundamentally, in comparison with the international forums held in the USSR in previous decades, the content of excursion programs for foreign tourists has changed. The component of visiting exemplary Soviet factories and collective farms by foreigners was significantly reduced. Instead, tourists were offered a significantly expanded program of acquaintance with the country's historical sights. For all the delegations of the Olympic Games in Moscow, visits to the famous medieval cathedrals were certainly organized, reduced to a minimum in the excursion network of the 1950s and 60s. There were also long-distance field trips to ancient Russian cities - Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov the Great, Zagorsk, etc. When visiting Zagorsk, attention was focused on revealing the role of the Orthodox Church in the history of Russia and its position in modern Soviet society. In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, a meeting of foreign tourists with the rector of the Theological Academy, Archbishop Vladimir, took place. Nothing like this simply could not happen during the Moscow festival. The evolution of excursion topics when working with foreigners indicates the existence of a vector of right-wing ideological transformation of the USSR. 65
The Olympic excursion program for foreign tourists in Moscow was approved back in 1978 and included the following thematic blocks:
Moscow is the capital of the USSR and the XXII Olympic Games;
- Excursion to the Kremlin;
- excursion to historical-revolutionary museums;
- Excursions to art and history museums;
- tour of the Red Square;
- excursions to the museums of Ostankino, Kolomenskoye, Kuskovo, Arkhangelskoye;
- a tour of the Moscow Metro named after V. I. Lenin;
- Excursion to VDNKh of the USSR.
It is significant that excursions of historical content were higher in this list than demonstrations of modern Soviet achievements (Metropolitan, VDNKh). Completely contrary to the tradition of organizing international forums in Moscow was the display of former landowners' estates by foreigners. 66
Of the historical and architectural monuments, the second place after the Kremlin in terms of representation in excursion programs for foreign tourists was the Novodevichy Convent. Being open to foreigners, it remained inaccessible to Soviet visitors for a long time, apparently due to the presence of a number of cult graves on its cemetery territory. 67
Not all propaganda findings of Intourist of the Olympic cycle can be considered successful. Doubt, for example, raises the expediency of quoting to foreigners the lines of V.V. Mayakovsky on sports topics:
“Your muscle, breath and body
Train for the military."
At a time when the Western media unanimously condemned Soviet militarism, incompatible with the principles of the Olympic movement, the quote about the use of sports as a means of preparing for war only played into the hands of ideological opponents. 68
In Soviet pre-Olympic propaganda, even the bright image of Baron Pierre de Coubertin was hit. The founder of the modern Olympic movement was criticized in a special Intourist manual for guides - interpreters as an ardent opponent of women's participation in the Olympics. 69
The sports side of the Olympics itself also caused a sharp political controversy. The coverage of the Olympics-80 in the US media in most cases was carried out within the framework of the theme of the devaluation of Olympic medals. It was argued that the success of athletes from the socialist countries without the participation of the Olympic delegations from the USA, Germany, Japan, Canada, Kenya and others is devalued. “Gold medals won in Moscow will be just chocolate gold medals,” declared from the pages of the American press. 70 American sportswriters kept counting how many gold medals the US team could win, usually agreeing on a guaranteed first place for it. A certain R. Garvey wrote in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times that the athletes of the Eastern bloc received from 30 to 50 gold medals, which rightfully belonged to the United States. 71
The level of high skill of the Olympic champions of the Moscow Games was called into question. Thus, the success of Cuban boxers, in particular, three-time Olympic champion T. Stevenson, was devalued by a comparison that was not in their favor with the best representatives of professional American boxing led by Muhammad Ali (New York Times). With frank mockery, a number of American publications stated the extremely low results shown at the games by many representatives of third world countries. Sports journalist K. Deklinger argued that countries unprepared for the Olympic Games, such as Mozambique, to please the Soviet Union, recruited their teams “on the street”. 72
The main argument of Soviet counter-propaganda was the reference to the abundance of records held in Moscow: 36 world and 74 Olympic. Soviet sports journalists offered their own versions of the verbal Olympic rivalry between the USSR and the USA, giving the palm in it, of course, to their own. An unambiguous hint was used that the decision of the US NOC to support John Carter's call for a boycott of the Olympics had an important effect on the fear of a weak performance in Moscow. 73
The official report of the Organizing Committee of the Olympiad on the holding of the games was full of citing rave reviews from foreigners about the quality of their organization. Moreover, every single respondent represented the capitalist countries, which, apparently, prevented accusations of bias and fraud. Robert Watson, Secretary General of the European Hockey Federation: “I saw most of the Olympic facilities, the Olympic Village, and all this made a tremendous impression on me. I'm happy for you, bravo, Moscow! 74
Correspondent of the Belgian newspaper Soir: “The quality of the sports facilities caused unanimous admiration. 75 M. Jea, The Independent, France: “The communications service was excellent. I express my gratitude to its employees.” 76 Kahraman Bapdum, Miliet newspaper, Turkey: “As a journalist, I have traveled all over the world and I find that the best means of communication for the press is here in Moscow.” 77 A Kaliron, Daily Record, Glasgow, UK: “Many thanks for the excellent organization at all the Olympic venues and especially at the Main Press Centre. The girls' work is impeccable." 78 Luis Enrico Condado, Organizing Committee of the 1983 Pan American Games, Venezuela: “I am leaving Moscow with the best feelings and a lot of impressions.” 79 IVF President G. Schedl: “The Izmailovo Sports Palace should be put on wheels and transported all over the world to show a model of conditions for holding competitions.” 80
N. Hacking, IRNR Secretary General: “At last year's Baltic Regatta, I said that the organizers of the Olympic yachtsmen's competitions had prepared for the Olympics-80 at least a year earlier than the athletes. Now they have brought everything to the highest degree of perfection. I must say that there is no such sailing center in any other country in the world. I think that according to its technical data, it is a world meeting center for yachtsmen. 81
Richard Palmer, Head of the UK Delegation: “The British Olympic Association is pleased to take this opportunity to express its appreciation for the warm hospitality shown to our delegation. We are delighted with the excellent Olympic Village, sports facilities, also smart organization” 82 etc.
The mindset of the Soviet people regarding the Olympic Games is characterized by a joke that instead of the communism promised by Khrushchev, the Olympics were held in 1980. Indeed, the preparations for the Olympic Games have exacerbated the deficit syndromes that were already gaining momentum. The ideological orientation of the country's leadership to a worthy meeting of foreign guests of the Olympics overshadowed the needs of their own people. It is widely believed that it is the Olympic Games that caused the decline in the living standards of the population. We will survive the Olympics, reasoned quite a few Soviet citizens, and life will improve again. At the level of mass consciousness, a psychological dichotomy was formed - "Soviet people" - "foreign tourists". In the latter, ordinary citizens often found perhaps the main reason for stagnation.
At one of the closed meetings of the Commission on Information and Propaganda of the Organizing Committee of the 1980 Olympics, the head of the Propaganda Department, V. G. Shevchenko, asked to pay attention to the following fact: “According to the information available to the Organizing Committee, in Moscow, in regional, regional, district centers, cities and tales are spreading in the villages about the Olympics-80, which is allegedly the culprit of all the problems that exist in some places. Even some responsible local leaders try to explain the failures in their work by blaming the Olympic Games.” 83
The speaker, however, asked not to discuss this problem widely, but to pay more attention to explaining the tasks of the Olympiad in local party organizations. 84 V.G. Shevchenko generally called for refraining from any critical speeches about the shortcomings in the preparation for the Olympics. This peculiar appeal was based on the consideration that the arguments of internal criticism could be used for their own purposes by the ideological opponents of the Soviet Union. In itself, the emergence of the idea of the harm of criticism was quite consistent with the nomenklatura moods of the Brezhnev era. 85
Apparently, indeed, there was dissatisfaction in society with the large-scale costs of the Olympics, even if Intourist methodological manuals repeatedly repeated that everything Olympic venues at the end of the competition will be used for the needs of Soviet citizens. In this, Moscow was opposed to others. Olympic capitals- Tokyo, Munich and Montreal. 86
The results of the Olympics-80 in terms of activities tourist organizations were summed up at a special forum in Sochi on October 20-25, 1980. The meetings were attended by representatives of government agencies for tourism in Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Cuba, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. The main emphasis in the discussions was made on the analysis of activities for "propaganda of the ideas of the Olympic movement abroad, for the popularization and advertising of trips of foreign tourists to the Games of the XXII Olympiad." 87
The final stage of preparation for the Beijing Olympiad is now underway. A number of parallels with the Moscow Olympic Games suggests itself. The Beijing Olympics was supposed to be a demonstration of the success of the development of the PRC. However, the activation of the movement for the independence of Tibet reveals the threat of disavowing the image of China. The possibility of a boycott of the Olympic Games is already being publicly spoken about. The Soviet Union, after hosting the Olympic Games, lasted only 11 years. What is the longevity of Communist China? Not far off the Olympics in Sochi. Of course, the experience of the Olympics-80 should be taken into account in the broadest social science analysis.
Literature
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5. Sports Moscow, pre-Olympic (methodological guide). - M., 1977.
The author investigates Olympic tourism through the ideological perspective and underlines the role of the Olympic Games played in the antagonist political systems standoff.
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10 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.344.
11 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.1, 18.
12 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.344.
13 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.190-191. - S.334-341, 345.
14 New York Times. - July 20, 1980; New York Times. - August 4, 1980; New York Daily News. - July 20, 1980.
15 Guskov S.I. Olympics-80 through the eyes of Americans. - M., 1982. - S.34.
16 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S. 190, 334-335.
17 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.1.
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19 Guskov S.I. Olympics-80 through the eyes of Americans. - M., 1982. - P.8.
20 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.3-4; GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.9-10.
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22 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.152.
23 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981.
24 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.25.
25 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.310. - L.8.
26 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.1.
27 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.1, 2.
28 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.4-5.
29 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.2.
30 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.5.
31 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.2.
32 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.5-6.
33 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.2.
34 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.6.
35 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.3.
36 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.6-7.
37 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.286. - L.31.
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39 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a manual to help the guide-interpreter). - M., 1980. - S.79-80.
40 Ibid. - P.83.
41 Ibid. - P.52.
42 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a methodological guide to help the guide-translator). - M., 1980. - S.28, 39.
43 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.260-278.
44 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.280-306.
45 TASS report, July 29, 1980.
46 Young Worker. - October 1980.
47 Daily Ward. - July 29, 1980.
48 Soviet sport. - July 24, 1980.
49 True. - June 23, 1980.
50 Soviet sport. - July 22, 1980.
51 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.10, 32.
52 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a manual to help the guide-interpreter). - M., 1980. - S.61-62.
53 Chicago Sun-Times. - July 18, 1980.
54 Philadelphia Enquirer. - July 23, 1980.
55 Sports abroad. - July 25-31, 1980.
56 Daily News. - July 18, 1980.
57 Soviet life. - October 1980.
58 Soviet life. - October 1980.
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61 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a manual to help the guide-interpreter). - M., 1980. - P.34.
62 Ibid. - S.38, 50.
63 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a manual to help the guide-interpreter). - M., 1980. - S.29.
64 Ibid. - M., 1980. - P. 100.
65 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - P. 406.
66 GARF. - F.9612. - Op.3. - D.1209. - L.31.
67 Moscow - the capital of the USSR (a manual to help the guide-interpreter). - M., 1980. - P.62.
68 Sports Moscow, pre-Olympic (methodological guide). - M., 1977. - S.22.
69 Ibid. - P.55-56.
70 Guskov S.I. Olympics-80 through the eyes of Americans. - M., 1982. - P.16.
71 Chicago Sun-Times. - July 13, 1980.
72 Guskov S. I. Olympics-80 through the eyes of Americans. - M., 1982. - S.24.
73 Ibid. - P.16-25.
74 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - P. 136.
75 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981.
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80 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.226.
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82 Games of the XXII Olympiad. - T.2. Preparation and conduct. - M., 1981. - S.332.
83 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.310. - L.9.
84 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.310. - L.9.
85 GARF. - F.9610. - Op.1. - D.310. - L.18.
86 Guidelines for excursions: "Moscow - the capital of the USSR, the capital of the XXII Olympic Games", "Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR". - M., 1979. - P.8.
87 GARF. - F.9612. - Op.3. - D.1528. - L.2.
Increasingly, these two popular words - "Spartakiad" and "Olympic Games" - are pronounced side by side. And probably not by chance. The point here is not at all that both the Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR and the Olympic Games are held every four years.
The Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR are called upon to promote a truly broad development of sports, its introduction into the life of a Soviet person, the creation of conditions for sports improvement, preparation for the Olympic Games - the development of the highest sportsmanship of those who turned out to be the strongest among millions of sports fans. They are entrusted with the protection of the sporting honor of our Motherland at the world sports forum.
The Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR, which have entered the life of our country since 1956, have gained great popularity and have become a program for the development of mass physical culture and sports in all corners of our country. The first stage of the Spartakiad - competitions in physical culture teams of enterprises, collective farms, state farms, construction sites and institutions, educational institutions and military units - brings millions of people to the starts. Spartakiads are also very important in preparing Soviet athletes for participation in major international competitions - championships, championships and, of course, the Olympic Games.
Now, looking back at 9 summer and 6 winter Spartakiads, we can safely say: they played a huge role in the outstanding success of Soviet athletes at the Olympic Games. The heroes of the Spartakiad very often became the heroes of the Olympics.
The first Summer Spartakiad was opened by Vyacheslav Ivanov, who later became an outstanding rower and three-time Olympic champion. Another discovery of the Games was the 18-year-old boxer Vladimir Safronov. The coaches took the risk of entrusting the first-class player with a place in the Olympic team: from distant Melbourne, Vladimir returned as an Olympic champion and Honored Master of Sports. The triumphant victories of Vladimir Kuts, the champion of the Spartakiad, who later became a two-time Olympic champion, are widely known.
Many Leningrad athletes began their Olympic path at the Spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR. One of the outstanding boxers of the 60s, our fellow countryman Valery Popenchenko, did not immediately receive wide recognition. The first big victory came to him at the II Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. And only then - five more victories at the national championships, twice - at the European championships and recognition as the best boxer of the XVIII Olympic Games.
From the sports competitions (although not very successful for the first time), he began his journey to big sport Anatoly Mikhailov is a hurdler runner who later became a twelve-time national champion and Olympic medalist.
The Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR opened the way to the Olympic team for our wonderful runner Tatyana Kazankina: a year later, at the stadium in Montreal, she became a two-time Olympic champion, and four years later in Moscow she won her third gold medal.
We, Leningraders, remember the brilliant victories of the gymnast Alexander Dityatin in 1975 at the VI Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR: the Spartakiad competitions were held in our city. A year later, Alexander is the silver medalist of the Olympic Games, the owner of the World Cup, and after the Moscow Olympiad, this wonderful athlete becomes the owner of the largest number of Olympic awards among Leningraders: he has ten Olympic medals, including three gold ones. At the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, wrestler Viktor Novozhilov was second, but still a year later he was entrusted with a place in the Olympic team that traveled to Montreal. The Leningrader justified his trust by winning a silver medal on the Olympic carpet.
The victories at the IX Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR were among the first major successes of our best cyclists - Olympic champion Vyacheslav Ekimov and silver medalist of the Seoul Olympiad Elena Dendeberova. With success at the Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, they began their sports ascent Olympic champions skiers Nina Baldycheva and Evgeny Belyaev, biathlete Dmitry Vasiliev ...
There is no doubt that the forthcoming Spartakiads of the peoples of the USSR will name those who in 1992 will be entrusted with defending the sporting honor of our Motherland in the Olympic arenas of Albertville and Barcelona.
Leningraders will have the chance to host the participants of the VIII Winter Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1993, the venue for which was chosen the city on the Neva.