Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR


The Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR were mass multi-event competitions in the Soviet Union in 1956–1991, descendants of the 1928 All-Union Spartakiad that took place in Moscow. The competitions were designed to be conducted between constituent union republics of the Soviet Union, but the Russian SFSR was always represented by three teams, the RSFSR itself as a whole along with separate teams from its main two cities, Moscow and Leningrad. The Moscow team was the most successful performer at the Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR.
Summer editions were always held in Moscow and winter editions held four times in Sverdlovsk, twice in Krasnoyarsk and once in Kiev. There were ten summer Spartakiads and seven winter Spartakiads.

Background

In 1952, the Soviet Union decided to join the Olympic movement, and international Spartakiads ceased, but the term continued to exist for internal sports events in the Soviet Union of different levels, from local up to the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. The latter event was held twice in four years: Winter Spartakiad and Summer Spartakiad.
The first Soviet Spartakiad was held in 1956. Until 1975, all summer finals were held in Moscow, later in some other cities throughout the Soviet Union. The winter finals were often held in Sverdlovsk.

List of Spartakiades of Peoples of USSR

Winter

EditionYearCityNationStart dateEnd date
I1962 SverdlovskSoviet UnionMarchMarch
II1966 Sverdlovsk, Gorky, Terskol and KievSoviet UnionMarchMarch
III1974 SverdlovskSoviet UnionMarchMarch
IV1978 SverdlovskSoviet UnionMarchMarch
V1982 KrasnoyarskSoviet Union4 March16 March
VI1986 KrasnoyarskSoviet Union24 February11 March
VII1990 KievSoviet UnionMarchMarch