It's nice to know that you live in one of the most sporting countries on the globe. In a country that has nurtured thousands of great athletes, won hundreds of world-class trophies, and forever inscribed its records in the annals of sports history.
A significant part of the sports exploits of domestic athletes falls on the time of the Soviet Union. Of course, special attention has always been paid to sports in the USSR, but the 1960-1980s of the 20th century can be called golden years for Soviet sports. Why? The answer to this question, backed up by vivid examples in sports such as basketball, hockey and volleyball, is contained in this article.
General trends
A country that has a vast territory, won the largest military conflict of the 20th century and competes with the United States for world leadership, simply had to maintain its image in the international arena. Sport was a wonderful, and most importantly, peaceful way to do this. Athletes who confidently win major international competitions - isn't this the best demonstration of the right course of development for the country? Naturally, great importance was attached to the development of sports.
Because of the tenseforeign policy situation caused by the bipolarity of the post-war world, the Soviet Union was constantly in good shape. Military-applied sports such as orienteering, martial arts, and shooting were actively developing. The "Ready for Labor and Defense" complex continued to gain popularity.
Victory in mass sports such as hockey, basketball and volleyball played an important role in popularizing sports in the USSR and strengthening the country's image in the international arena. Of course, Soviet athletes won titles and awards in other sports, but today we are not talking about them.
Success in basketball
The basketball team of the USSR showed a high class of play. In the 60-80s, the sport that came from the United States did not see such a high-quality game that the USSR national team gave out. Apart from the Americans, and later the Yugoslavs, no one could compete with the Soviet basketball players.
The USSR national basketball team won a large number of important trophies during this period. These are 9 gold medals of the European Championships, and Olympic silver (1964), bronze (1968, 1976, 1980) and gold (1972), and gold of the World Championship (1964 and 1974).
The enchanting finale of the rivalry between the USSR and the USA for gold medals in Munich in 1972, which ended with the golden throw of Alexander Belov a few seconds before the end of the match, formed the basis of the plot of the film "Movement Up", released at the end of 2017 of the year. So Sovietbasketball players for the first time became champions of the Olympic Games, defeating their main rivals - the United States.
Hockey dominance
Together with other sports in the 60-80s, hockey actively developed in the USSR. The Soviet ice squad is a separate reason for pride. Not a single national team has so far managed to repeat the record of Soviet hockey players - to win all the international championships in a row for 14 years!
At the end of the unbeaten streak, the national team did not cease to please the Soviet fans with resounding victories. Hockey players became world champions from 1973 to 1975, from 1978 to 1983, in 1986, 1989 and 1990. Think about these numbers: out of 28 world championships that have taken place in these golden 30 years, 20 have been won by our compatriots. Just once in 30 years, the Soviet Union did not enter the top three. Fantastic result! The attitude towards sports in the USSR changed in the 60-80s. A photo taken at one of the world championships clearly demonstrates this.
Success accompanied Soviet hockey players at the Olympic Games. The national team climbed to the highest step of the podium 7 times.
1972 Canada-USSR Super Series
The series of duels between the national teams of our country and Canada became the most important event for the hockey sport of the USSR in the 60-80s. In eight games, it had to be decided whose hockey is better: the Canadian power style or the Soviet fast pass, backed up by positional play.
The parties have reachedthe agreement is that the first 4 games will be played in Canada and the final 4 in the Soviet Union. One of the conditions for the upcoming competition was the absence in the list of professional NHL players playing for the country of the maple leaf. However, no one was surprised when, contrary to the agreement, only professional players were announced for the series of games.
The whole world was expecting a confrontation between the founding fathers of hockey and the most titled amateur team in the world at that time. And the world clearly put on the Canadian team. For example, one American journalist publicly vowed to eat his own article if the Soviet athletes could beat the Canadian pros at least one game. No one believed that he would soon have to fulfill his promise by eating the "dish" in combination with chicken broth.
The first of the games in the series is considered to be the most dramatic for the founders of hockey and one of the best domestic masters. Taking to the ice with absolute confidence in their own victory, the heavy artillery from the NHL was in no way ready to lose the first game with a score of 7:3. The world was in shock, but the Canadian team experienced the strongest shock. Although a month later the series ended with the victory of the Canadian team with a minimal advantage of one puck, achieved in the last minutes of the third period, world hockey has changed forever, as well as the attitude towards sports in the USSR.
Achievements of Soviet volleyball players
The successes of the volleyball team, as well as teams in other sports in the USSR in the 60-80s, can be brieflycharacterize as follows: the strongest team in the world.
At least the fact that from 1977 to 1983 Soviet male volleyball players won only gold in all tournaments says a lot. The Olympic gold medals of 1964 and 1968 preceded such a clear dominance of the sport of the USSR in international competitions.
Great sports past and faith in a bright future
take away. One can only be proud of them and multiply the victories in the present. Go Russia!
