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Russian ballerinas were a tradition carried on from the days of royalty. Now ballet can be found all around the world.

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1972 Olympics Basketball Final USA   USSR

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There were many great figure skaters including Ekaterina Gordeeva, Evgeni Plushenko, and Alexei Yagudin. This was yet another winter sport where the Soviet Union got to show its stuff on many occasions.

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From 1948-1993 there were only years (Bobby Fisher 72-75) where the world champion was not from the Soviet Union. This was a great show of intellectual superiority for the country.

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Russia held the olympics in  Moscow in 1980 and the United States led a boycott to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A total of 65 nations refused to participate in the games, including Canada.
In 1984 Los Aheld the summer olympics Russia issued a statement saying they were to boycott the games which led to 13 other countries also not sending their teams to the games.

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One of the greatest rivalries in olympic history was/is the rivalry of Canada and Russia in men’s hockey. These two countries were considered a step above the rest and as such this was another west vs. east sports match.

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The Cold War between the USA and USSR dominated the second half of the twentieth century. The Olympics offered an athletic (yet still political) stage for the tensions of these super powers, resulting in the highest level of competition in sports. The Soviets dominated the Winter Games, but the Summer Games were highly competitive. The two countries won far more medals than any other country during this period and finished 1-2 in the medal counts in every Summer Games until the Soviet-backed East German doping program really took hold in the late 1970s. All data was compiled from Olympic.org.

Total Medal Count
Summer and Winter Olympics

Total Total

315

244

215

774

393

307

309

1009

290

216

194

700

315

250

250

815

25

28

21

74

78

57

59

194

* Excludes 1980 Olympics boycotted by USA and '84 Olympics boycotted by USSR

Soviet Gymnast Larisa Latynina's record of 18 medals from 1956-64 stood until Michael Phelps broke it in 2012.

1962 was probably the most tense year of the Cold War, and the USA-USSR dual track meet in Palo Alto, California is perhaps the sport's most famous meet.

Soviet Union's win in the 1972 gold medal game may be the most controversial event in Olympic history.

America's improbable upset victory over the Soviets in the 1980 semi-finals.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Warsaw Pact were rival military alliances. The US led the mostly-European group of countries into a treaty of mutual defense, NATO, against potential aggression from the Soviet bloc. The USSR answered with their own alliance of countries, called the Warsaw Pact. When the Americans and Soviets were not in medal contention themselves, their sights turned to the performance of their "partner" countries. These are the countries that made up the respective alliances at the Olympics from 1956-1988:

NATO
United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Greece (except '76-80), France (through '64), Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain ('84-'88), Turkey, United Kingdom, West Germany (starting in '68*)
Warsaw Pact
Soviet Union, Albania (through '68), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany (starting in '68*), Hungary, Poland, Romania
* East and West Germany competed as a Unified Team through the 1964 Olympics

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The Cold War between the USA and USSR dominated the second half of the twentieth century. The Olympics offered an athletic (yet still political) stage for the tensions of these super powers, resulting in the highest level of competition in sports. The Soviets dominated the Winter Games, but the Summer Games were highly competitive.

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The news that Russia could lose the 2018 World Cup if there is evidence Moscow has paid bribes to obtain the award threatens to strain further the East-West relationship. Russia denies buying votes and Vladimir Putin has already dismissed a US investigation into corruption in world football as politically motivated.

Of course sport and politics do mix and it has always been so.

During the Cold War, Sport was one of many spheres the USSR and the West competed in bitterly. Purportedly amateur, sport meant a lot to the Soviet authorities as did awards and gold medals. Athletes often spent most of their time training in world class facilities even though they were meant to be factory workers or army officers.

The largest sports event ever to be hosted by the Soviet Union was the Summer 1980 Moscow Olympics. It became a landmark in modern history as a total of 65 countries boycotted the event over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. But before July 1980 came the February Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and an ice-hockey match which later became known as the "Miracle on Ice".
Miracle On Ice
Contrary to popular belief, the legendary match between the national teams of the USSR and the USA was a so-called medal-round, not a final. Both teams went on to play other countries in order to secure their medals: the USA played Finland and the USSR - Sweden. But it was the Americans' victory (4-3) on February 22 which came as a real shock and the aggregate score which made the US into winners. A bunch of college-team kids representing USA managed to beat the country which took six gold medals in the last seven Olympic Games and were world champions in 1978 and 1979. The first-line Soviet players were true legends of ice-hockey: Tretiak, Kharlamov, Petrov and Mikhailov. The coach of the team, Viktor Tikhonov, blamed these players for the poor result.
Last few minutes of the "Miracle on Ice"
The Americans received a gold medal after beating Finland, whereas the Soviet team was supposed to collect silver medals after beating Sweden. However, the players refused to have their names engraved on the medals - a highly unusual move which showed how much of a humiliation second place was. Sports commentators at the time were stunned by the Americans' victory.

PHOTO: "Soviet combat vehicles move through Afghnaistan. Photo from the US Department of Defence archvies."

The match, which became a turning point for the previously unbeaten team, also happened in the midst of the US decision making-process whether to boycott the coming summer Olympics. President Carter gave the USSR an ultimatum in January, demanding they withdraw troops from Afghanistan within one month or face consequences including international isolation. Moscow did nothing so the US pressed ahead with the boycott.

Soviet sports commentators called the "Miracle on Ice" an accident, yet it left a lasting mark on the national team's morale. Most of the American players went on to become professional hockey players within the NHL.
Summer 1980 Moscow Olympics: Cold War in sports at its worst
When the USA finalised their decision not to take part in the Moscow Olympics, they put pressure on their allies to follow suit. With 80 countries participating the Moscow was a far more sparsely attended event than its organisers had hoped - in fact it was the smallest Olympics since 1956. Some Western countries like Britain, France or Italy did not boycott the games, but sent reduced numbers of athletes.

The Olympic Games had been awarded to Moscow as a sign of reconciliation in 1974. The relations between East and West and especially between the two superpowers were not perfect but in the early 70s they had entered a stage of what was later described as "peaceful co-existence". Two SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty) agreements were signed - in 1972 and 1979, the latter less than six months before the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The treaties aimed at freezing and then reducing the number of ballistic missiles the USSR and the USA held.

Because of Afghanistan, instead of helping to stabilise peace the Moscow Olympics turned into another ground for the two superpowers to fight their battles. Some of US allies disagreed as to how effective the boycott was and argued that it was emotional and strategically pointless. It did however, contribute to the already strong sense of mistrust and brought on the next boycott - of the Summer 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

PHOTO: "US President Nixon and Soviet chairman Brezhnev discussing SALT agreement in Washington DC in 1972. Photo from the Nixon Presidential Library."
Tit for tat, Olympics for Friendship: boycott of 1984
In May 1984 a couple of months before the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were due to open the Soviet Union issued a statement expressing an intention to boycott the games. The reasons cited were "anti-soviet hysteria and chauvinistic sentiments". Then Soviet chairman Konstantin Chernenko also said that there were reasons to believe that the Soviet athletes would not have adequate security while in the US. 13 other countries joined forces with Moscow and did not send their teams. Somewhat strangely Iran and Albania boycotted both 1980 and 1984 games. Romania was the only country with ideological links to the USSR to send its athletes to Los Angeles.

The Soviet Union quickly organised its own event, much like it created alternatives to many Western institutions and cultural phenomena. The event was to be called The Friendship Games and it was carried out from July to September 1984 in several countries of the Communist bloc.

The Soviet authorities would not admit that the Friendship Games were meant to constitute an alternative to the Los Angeles Olympics. Instead, they claimed the competition was about the promotion of peace and friendship between nations. Most of the participating countries boycotted the US Olympics but some western states, such as Italy and West Germany took part in both. Soviet authorities boasted that there were plenty of world records established there.

In reality, 1980 and 1984 Olympics and the Friendship Games showed how sport could be used not to strengthen ties between nations but to create divisions and more reasons for confrontation. The 1988 Olympics were to be held in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, a perennial enemy of the USSR's friend North Korea. Another boycott was in site.

With tensions over the situation in Ukraine and growing mistrust between both sides a potential boycott of any large sporting event were it to be held in Russia in 2018 seems a possibility.
Useful links: IOC about the 1980 Olympics IOC about the 1984 Olympics Deutsche Welle on Cold War in Sports

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Cold War sports: how Moscow and the West played for supremacy

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The news that Russia could lose the 2018 World Cup if there is evidence Moscow has paid bribes to obtain the award threatens to strain further the East-West relationship. Russia denies buying votes and Vladimir Putin has already dismissed a US investigation into corruption in world football as politically motivated.

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In 1952, the USSR played Hungary who they had recently occupied in waterpolo. Despite the poor situation in Hungary the team dominated the Russian team leading to Valentin Prokopov punching a player in the face out of frustration. This made international headlines and was bad news for the USSR.

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Until 1972 the USA was unbeatable in basketball but then the USSR beat them. This was a loss and embarrassment for America because it showed that the USSR wasn’t as under developed and uncivilized as previously though. The advancement in figure skating and the establishment of the Russia School of Figure Skating also made the USSR appear to be involved in the education and well-being of their children. It also brought new methods to figure skating which led to the USSR dominating in figure skating

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Soccer is the number one sport in the country. Women have their own national soccer league.

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The USSR is the definition of sports because of their victories in figure skating, hockey and similar winter sports.

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The rich of the bourgeoisie had considered sports something that made man “even stupider than he already is.” This made sports a sort of continuation of the revolution.

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Competing in sports allows for Russian citizens to become more well rounded and productive work. The strict and tightly controlled sport programs also helps the government stay in control. It also brought reason for diplomacy between the USA and USSR.

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"Red Army" Film Explores Sports as Propaganda

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Joining a sports team was a great way to show the greatness of the collective. On top of that it promotes hard-work and getting things done which are both helpful for production in the Soviet Union.

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USSR had 51 medals removed for doping which was the most of any country. This was a huge scandal and showed the lengths they were willing to go to for victory.
The doping began in 1983 and quickly became a scandal. The Russians were determined to win against the Americans and their other rivals. The Russians responded by boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles games and issuing a statement mentioning that many other athletes had taken performance enhancing drugs for track and field.
It was/is a state sponsored doping and has continued to be a large issue in professional sports.
The final result was the banning of Russia in the Olympics (since the 2014 games) but the ban was adjusted to let the OAR (Olympic Athlete from Russia) team play.

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There are few things that bring a country together better than sports especially when competing against other countries. It was a great way to show superiority to the west.