Page 142 - Olympism in Socialism

a rule, the level of performance at the Games is
so high that each champion or even medalist of
the USSR Games is considered to be capable of
winning the Olympics. About 65 per cent of past
Spartakiad champions have represented the
Soviet Union at the Olympic Games.
The first Soviet spartakiad opened in Moscow
on August 12, 1928. Since 1956, spartakiads
have been held regularly. They have now become
the most popular national competitions.
The finals of the 7th Spartakiad were held
from July 21 to August 5, 1979, approximately
the same time of the year during which the 1980
Olympics will take place (July 19-August 3). “A
dress rehearsal for the Olympiad-80”, that is how
Spartakiad-79 was rightly described. All the
major Olympic facilities in Moscow and other
Olympic cities of the USSR were tried out at the
7th Spartakiad.
For the first time in the history of the USSR
People’s Games, the 7th Spartakiad was thrown
open to competitors from abroad. Side by side
with about 10,000 Soviet athletes, nearly 2,300
foreign sportsmen from 85 countries of all the five
continents competed in the spartakiad in 30
sports events.
The spartakiad brought forth a large number
of new names in different sports items. The
highest number of medals — 225 sets — were
contested for. World, national and spartakiad
records were broken in several events.
The entire cycle of the 7th Spartakiad, which
included mass competitions, championships of
the republics, and lastly, the finals, at the level of
national championships in a variety of sports
events, lasted for approximately four years. As
many as 75,367,000 people, i.e., 41.25 per cent
of the USSR’s population in the 10-60 age group,

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