Sports Life in the Conditions of International Political Isolation: the Experience of the USSR in the 1920-1940s

The article is devoted to the experience of the Soviet Union in the 1920s–1940s in the field of overcoming sports sanctions and sports isolation. Having found itself in an ideological confrontation with the West after the October Revolution, the leadership of the USSR withstood the harsh pressure of the «international community» in almost all areas of its activities, including in the field of physical education and sports. At the same time, the USSR not only withstood such a confrontation, but also managed to build a unique model of organic combination and complementarity of «big-time sports» and mass sports. In addition, by playing on the contradictions of capitalist countries, the USSR periodically managed to break through the sports blockade not only through the Sportintern, but also through bilateral cooperation with individual countries and territories. As a result, international official sports structures (IOC and others) were forced not only to integrate Soviet athletes into their ranks, but also to do so on their own initiative, and even after meeting strict requirements from the USSR.