Politics through sports in the USSR: experiences of athletes

This project seeks to find out, through the memories of the informants, how did the USSR carry out politics through sports - athletics. The study set out to examine athletes: what it meant for them to be an athlete in the USSR, what conditions and opportunities were given to athletes, what impact the boycotted Olympics of 1984 had on their lives, what was the status of athletes in society. The study provides an opportunity to critically evaluate the relationship between athletics and politics in the late Soviet era. The insights of the research also allow us to take a new look at the current situation of athletics and to identify the areas of independent Lithuanian sports policy that need to be corrected.

Project website: https://mickunasvilius.wixsite.com/lengvaatleciai