Skip to main content
Support
Event

The Russian Influence on American Sport

Robert Edelman, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of California, San Diego; Craig Masback, Chief Executive Officer, United States Track and Field Association; Ken Dryden, President, Toronto Maple Leafs

Date & Time

Thursday
Dec. 12, 2002
7:30am – 9:30am ET

Overview

In a recent seminar at the Kennan Institute, panelists Robert Edelman, Craig Masback, and Ken Dryden discussed the Russian influence on American sports. Edelman, a Professor of History at UC-San Diego, began the discussion by noting five Russian contributions to the western sports. Masback, the current CEO of the U.S. Track and Field Association, and Dryden, President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, provided insight about the Russian influence from the athletes' perspective, both having participated in international competition against the U.S.S.R.

According to Edelman, Russia and the Soviet Union influenced American sport in five ways: the introduction and development of women's sports, the development of sports science, the professionalization and politicalization of sports, and finally, the use of sport as a "Potemkin village" façade to camouflage deeper economic and political problems. Edelman explained that the visibility of Soviet women's participation in sports had two purposes, the first was to demonstrate gender equality in the Soviet Union, and the second purpose was to "win" the Olympics, which required winning the most medals. In order to meet the challenge posed by Soviets, opportunities for American women increased, including the establishment of Title IX, which mandated the formation of women's sports programs. Edelman argued that the Soviets had a profound influence on the development of sports science, in both the laboratory and at the coaching level. He characterized the success of Russian coaches as one of the greatest success of Soviet sports.

Edelman noted that the Soviet athletes were some of the first "amateur" athletes to get paid. The introduction of the Soviet "state-professional" athlete to the Olympics had a profound impact on the Olympic movement. Edelman explained that Soviets viewed sports as an opportunity to show both foreign and domestic audiences the power and success of Soviet communism. According to Edelman, Americans generally accepted this version, perhaps more so than other international audiences who were more familiar with the Soviets' ongoing struggles in international soccer. Edelman contended that the Soviets used the sport system as an idyllic "Potemkin village," to mask the overall weaknesses of the Soviet system, especially those of the economy.

Masback, a former member of the International Olympic Committee, explained the Russian influence on Olympic sports. According to Masback, the Soviets shaped the Olympics in three primary areas: the use of sport as ideology; a systematic approach to identifying and developing talent; and finally, the use of drugs in sports. Masback stated that he and others who participated in events against the Soviets viewed their athletes as the "living embodiment of the Soviet system." He noted that the old Soviet adage "a medal is a medal" and their use of the overall medal count to show superiority are now fundamental elements of the U.S. Olympic Committee guidelines for the development of U.S. sports today. Each year, the U.S. Track and Field Association must predict how many medals U.S. athletes will win in each event in order to receive funding from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Masback concluded that, though the Soviet system that was never as successful as it seemed, it has triumphed in a number of ways. He stated that the Soviet Union succeeded in achieving its ideological aims through sports, and an indication of influence is that "we have all adopted their practices now and are aspiring to do what they achieved decades ago."

Dryden concluded the panel by discussing his experience as a direct participant in competitions against the Soviets. He explained that, while we now know more about the economic realities that confronted the Soviet system during the 1970s, during the Cold War "people lived what they imagined to be the realities and were hugely impacted by what they imagined the situation to be." Dryden noted that the Russian influence on professional sports has been scant. However, their professionalization of amateur sports, especially in sports such as hockey, had a profound impact. Dryden explained that amateur hockey was historically club versus club, town versus town, or country versus country, but that "when it got to be way of life versus way of life, then the stakes started to rise, and amateur sports became state-professional sports, with that biggest stage being the Olympics."

Dryden discussed his experience as a goalie on the Canadian national hockey team during the 1972 "Summit Series" series against the Soviet national team. He noted that perhaps the greatest Russian influence on professional sports was their ability to turn their limited resources and weaknesses into advantages. In the case of hockey, Russians could not afford to buy new sticks or have state-of-the-art skates. Therefore, they invented a new style of play, relying on quick passes and different skating techniques to compensate for their constraints. Dryden stated that the Russians were also instrumental in introducing off-season training, which increased the conditioning and skills of the players. These evolutionary changes surprised the Canadians and other members of the international hockey world in 1972, and soon became recognized as reasonable alternatives to the norm.

Tagged

Hosted By

Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

Thank you for your interest in this event. Please send any feedback or questions to our Events staff.