Olympics-80 as a measure of patriotism

Many years ago on this day we rejoiced. Two weeks later we were crying huge “bear tears.” Olympics-80 in Moscow.

From July 19 to August 3, 1980, the XXII Summer Olympic Games were held in Moscow at the Great Sports Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium.

Sports delegations from 81 countries took part in the 1980 Olympics. Due to the boycott in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, sports delegations from the USA, Germany, Japan and some other countries did not attend the Moscow Olympic Games.

In addition to the capital of the USSR, competitions were also held in other capitals - union republics: Kyiv, Minsk, Tallinn, as well as in Leningrad. It was for this event that the Izmailovo hotel complex was built - still my favorite hotel in Moscow.



Just the year after the Olympics, I went to Moscow for the first time in my life. And we lived in Izmailovo. The maids and receptionists periodically talked about their Olympic impressions. They were especially proud of the special beds for basketball players and weightlifters.

After some time, I managed to visit post-Olympic Tallinn. There was a regatta there. Incredible coastal and sea beauty even after a while!



The Olympics became a truly great event in the world of all-Union sports and an unprecedented outburst of patriotism. Although we knew then about the “Afghan” boycott, and that some citizens were asked to leave the capital...



The official mascot of the 1980 Olympic Games was the bear cub Misha - an athlete, but also a hero of Russian folk tales. In 1977, a group of Soviet artists received the task of “drawing bears,” and from the sketches submitted to the competition, a drawing by Viktor Chizhikov was chosen, which depicted the now well-known optimistic bear cub. During the Olympics, his image was everywhere - on badges, envelopes, stamps, souvenirs, clothes.



My Moscow friends sent my cousin, an artist, several badges with a bear cub. He gave me one, which is quite rare among us. Needless to say, all summer the guys in the yard were dying of envy.

At the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, Lev Leshchenko and Tatyana Antsiferova took to the field with the ensemble “Flame”. To the song “Goodbye, Moscow” by A. Pakhmutova, which became the anthem of the 1980 Olympics, the huge brown Misha, who was in the center of the stadium, took off into the sky in numerous balloons.

Seeing off the mascot of the Moscow Olympic Games, the entire stadium stood up. Some people even had tears streaming down their faces. And someone cried bright, proud tears near the TV screens. For the country, for our athletes.



Those 1980 Olympics became a starting point, in some ways a measure of patriotic sporting victory. She is sometimes remembered today when discussing sports defeats. We often hear that today’s athletes have no patriotism. For them, the main thing is money. Whoever pays the most is the one they compete for. They can sell the victory, lose the game on purpose.

In response, the athletes argue: the country has already destroyed the ability to train normally, the necessary conditions have not been created, children’s sports have already been almost completely destroyed. And if an athlete achieves a high result, it is not thanks to the country, but thanks to himself and a good coach. And it seems like he no longer owes the state anything. I didn't raise it.

Strange as it may seem, the situation can only be changed (if this is necessary, of course?) only with the development of mass children's sports. By creating the best possible conditions for him. Yes, children are not profitable. But they are profitable investments. Maybe government officials will understand this language?