Spartakiads

The Spartakiad (or Spartakiade) was an international sports event that was sponsored by the Soviet Union. Five international Spartakiades were held from 1928 to 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern Bloc countries. The games were organised by Red Sport International.

The Soviet Union attempted to use Spartakiads to both oppose and supplement the Olympics. (In Russian, there is a certain parallelism in the names: "Spartakiada" and "Olimpiada".) The name, derived from the name of the slave rebel leader, Spartacus, was intended to symbolize proletarian internationalism because Spartacus' revolt united slaves from diverse ethnic backgrounds within the Roman Empire. As a Classical figure, Spartacus also stood directly in contrast to the nature of the Ancient Olympic Games on which the modern "capitalist" Olympics were based. The first Winter Spartakiad was held in February 1928 in Oslo, and the first Summer Spartakiad was held in August 1928 in Moscow.

The first Spartakiads in the USSR took place in 1923 within formations of the Red Army and the Spartak Youth Physical Culture organization in Petrograd. The Moscow Spartakiad in 1928 was also known as the All-Union Spartakiad, while it involved participation of countries (17) outside of the Soviet Union. From the start of the 1930s in the Soviet Union, spartakiads of trade unions and the Dynamo physical culture sports society took place. In the 1950s, spartakiads of the Peoples of the USSR, DOSAAF of the USSR, all-Union Spartakiads of students, international Spartakiads of friendly armies of socialist and developing countries, and others were introduced.

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