What bodybuilders were called in the USSR and for what sports they were imprisoned

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Sports games - what could be more apolitical? - bring people together, help to find like-minded people, take time and, finally, do, as in the song "a healthy mind in a healthy body." However, the authorities in the Soviet Union looked at this differently: they believed that even a sport could become an ideological adversary, capable of negatively affecting the morale of a citizen of the country.

How billiards was declared a bourgeois relic

Billiards came under a ban immediately after the change in the social and social system in 1917: the new authorities attributed it to the remnants of the past, declaring it "bourgeois fun." However, in the 30s, thanks to the interest in the game of a number of members of the top leadership of the USSR and directly Comrade Stalin, they remembered and started talking about billiards again. Having gained lost ground, the board game gained wide popularity among the population - tables with balls were installed in almost all sanatoriums, houses of culture and recreation parks.

In addition, the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports created a billiard section, which was engaged in both training and holding tournaments of various sizes - from city championships to all-union competitions. The military, who considered it an excellent training for the development of accuracy and eye, and the country's intellectuals, who saw billiards as a great way to relax and have a good time, fell in love with the game.

The game was not forgotten during the Great Patriotic War - so in 1944 even a tournament was held to provide assistance to the front. In the post-war years, billiards began to rapidly lose popularity, and after the national championship, held in 1947, it practically disappeared into oblivion. Officially, the board game was not banned, but again began to be condemned as an activity that contradicted the values of a society dreaming of building communism. Another birth of interest in this entertainment occurred in 1988, when a billiard federation was created in Moscow, which announced a year later that the game would be given the status of a sport.

Why was it forbidden to practice karate in the USSR?

Karate was officially banned in the fall of 1981 after the publication of the decree "On administrative responsibility for violating the rules of training karate" and the addition of an article on illegal possession of weapons (Art. 219 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR), a clause on illegal training in karate.

There are several versions of why the authorities began persecuting this once popular sport. The first version is criminalization. Karate used in fights often led to the death of one of the participants in the street brawl. In addition, often young athletes were engaged in the protection of underground shop workers, helping them get rid of competitors.

The second version is the lack of athletes in other sports. The popularity of karate affected almost all Soviet youth - football players, hockey players, and judokas aspired to practice it. The probable outflow of promising athletes led to their deficit in judo and boxing, which affected the performances of the USSR national team. So, for example, by 1981, the country was left without prize-winning places in boxing for almost 14 years due to the lack of talented guys in the composition.

The third version is the lack of section control. Due to the large number of official and underground sections, the state could not keep track of what was happening within the sports communities. The strict discipline and hierarchy among the karateka caused the authorities to fear the possibility of the formation of criminal groups and even the emergence of anti-government conspirators.

The fourth version is aiding the shadow economy. Willy-nilly, karatekas helped create unaccounted cash flows: the sale of equipment, badges, posters and other paraphernalia brought the guild workers substantial, but illegal income.

Other versions that existed at that time were the lack of qualified trainers, the high injury risk of karate, disagreements among the members of the USSR Physical Education Committee.

How baseball could not stand the "terror"

The Great Depression in the United States led to the fact that in the 1930s American specialists were sent to look for work in the Soviet Union. In addition to knowledge and working hands, they brought to a foreign country knowledge about baseball, a national sport, to which they also introduced their Soviet comrades. A game similar to rounders with slightly more sophisticated rules became so popular that in 1934 students of the Moscow Institute of Physical Education were taught it according to the curriculum.

Until 1937, a separate ground for training and baseball competitions was created at the Moscow Dynamo stadium, and during the same period the USSR baseball league was organized. At first, the central government did not interfere with undertakings - it did not even object to proposals that the American game should become a new kind of Soviet sport. However, all the indulgences ended when the time of the "Great Terror" came - baseball enthusiasts were arrested and they had to forget about the attempt to popularize the game in the Union forever.

How bodybuilding was banned after two championships in the USSR

In the Soviet Union, bodybuilding, called "athletic gymnastics", gained popularity in the 60s of the last century. Despite this, the athletes did not have sufficient literature and conducted training using the 60-year-old methodology developed by Evgeny Sandov. About all the novelties and achievements in the field of bodybuilding, the pitching of the USSR learned from Polish thematic magazines, which were secretly imported into the country.

The attitude of the authorities to this sport was initially negative: although no one organized obstacles to classes, bodybuilding was considered a Western trend, therefore it did not evoke the approval of those in charge. In 1971, the first championship among bodybuilders took place in Severodvinsk: the competition, although it was unofficial, attracted athletes from all over the country. A year later, they managed to organize a repeated championship, which in the history of developed socialism became the last competition for bodybuilders.

In 1973, an official decree appeared that prohibited the development of this sport in the USSR. However, bodybuilders did not disappear - they went into an "illegal position" by equipping rocking chairs in the basements of houses. True, it was not possible to exist completely imperceptibly, and then the law came into force. So Vladimir Khomulev, the winner of the first USSR championship, was condemned for promoting bodybuilding. Another bodybuilder - Evgeny Koltun - was more fortunate, he only went through a comradely court.

Today everyone can do whatever sport they like. Recently the most beautiful teacher with a Hollywood smile and pumped-up muscles was found in Russia … Do you like it?