Soviet Union (URS)

Overview

NOCOlympic Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Flagbearers37

Participants

Olympic Games 2948
Other competitors with URS nationality 5

Description

Although Russia competed from 1900 through 1912 at the Olympics, it did not return after World War I. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviet Union (formally the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR) did not attend the Olympics for 40 years. In fact, the Soviet Union was absent from international sports, instead choosing to compete in separate socialist events, which also attracted participation from other nations.

After World War II, the Soviet Union competed in the European Championships in track & field athletics in 1946. The National Olympic Committee was formed on 23 April 1951 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 7 May of the same year, at the IOC session in Vienna. The Soviet Union participated for the first time at the Olympic Games at Helsinki 1952. It made its inaugural Olympic Winter Games appearance at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956. It competed at every Olympics from 1956-1988, with the exception of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1992, most of its constituent republics competed as the Unified Team (EUN).

After returning to the Olympics, the Soviet Union was a dominant force in almost all Olympic sports. It was the second nation to win more than 1,000 Olympic medals (after the United States), winning a grand total of 1,204 medals (including 473 gold).

All of its top medal winners competed in gymnastics, with Larysa Latynina winning 18 Olympic medals (and nine golds), which is the most of any female athlete in Olympic history. The top male Soviet Olympian was also a gymnast: Nikolay Andrianov won 15 medals and seven golds from 1972-1980. Four other Soviet athletes won 10 or more medals at the Olympics, all in gymnastics: Boris Shakhlin, Viktor Chukarin, Polina Astakhova and Aleksandr Dityatin.

Of the more than 1,000 medals won by the Soviet Union during its history, 194 of them (and 78 golds) were achieved at the Winter Olympics. They particularly excelled in cross-country skiing (68 medals and 25 gold) and in speed skating (60 medals and 24 gold).

Cross-country skiers Raisa Smetanina and Galina Kulakova led the Soviet Winter Olympians with more medals, with nine medals (three gold) and eight medals (four gold), respectively. The gold medal count was led by speedskater Lidiya Skoblikova, with a total of six medals, all gold.

The Soviet Union was disbanded in late 1991, after the August Revolution. It no longer competes as a single nation at the Olympics, as its 15 former republics now compete as independent nations, but the central core of the former nation has still competed at the Olympics as Russia, although because of doping scandals in the 2010s, its athletes have only been allowed to compete as Olympic Athletes from Russia or as the Russian Olympic Committee since 2016.

In 1955 the Olympic Committee of the USSR was awarded with the Count Alberto Bonacossa Trophy.

Participations by edition

Olympic Games

Edition As Men Women Total
1952 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 255 40 295 Results
1956 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 233 39 272 Results
1956 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 47 6 53 Results
1956 Equestrian Olympics Soviet Union 9 0 9 Results
1960 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 233 50 283 Results
1960 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 48 14 62 Results
1964 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 254 63 317 Results
1964 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 53 16 69 Results
1968 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 246 66 312 Results
1968 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 54 20 74 Results
1972 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 298 73 371 Results
1972 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 55 21 76 Results
1976 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 285 125 410 Results
1976 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 59 20 79 Results
1980 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 340 149 489 Results
1980 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 63 23 86 Results
1984 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 74 25 99 Results
1988 Summer Olympics Soviet Union 319 162 481 Results
1988 Winter Olympics Soviet Union 78 23 101 Results

Participations by discipline

Olympic Games

Discipline (Sport) Men Women Total
Alpine Skiing (Skiing) 18 13 31 Results
Archery 8 8 16 Results
Artistic Gymnastics (Gymnastics) 41 41 82 Results
Artistic Swimming (Aquatics) 0 3 3 Results
Athletics 363 185 548 Results
Basketball (Basketball) 75 28 103 Results
Biathlon 22 0 22 Results
Bobsleigh (Bobsleigh) 14 0 14 Results
Boxing 85 0 85 Results
Canoe Marathon (Canoeing) 11 0 11 Results
Canoe Slalom (Canoeing) 1 1 2 Results
Canoe Sprint (Canoeing) 70 17 87 Results
Cross Country Skiing (Skiing) 37 28 65 Results
Cycling Road (Cycling) 39 3 42 Results
Cycling Track (Cycling) 51 1 52 Results
Diving (Aquatics) 29 30 59 Results
Equestrian Dressage (Equestrian) 10 4 14 Results
Equestrian Eventing (Equestrian) 23 0 23 Results
Equestrian Jumping (Equestrian) 23 0 23 Results
Fencing 78 23 101 Results
Figure Skating (Skating) 33 28 61 Results
Football (Football) 95 0 95 Results
Handball 40 33 73 Results
Hockey 25 16 41 Results
Ice Hockey (Ice Hockey) 106 0 106 Results
Judo 28 0 28 Results
Luge 19 10 29 Results
Modern Pentathlon 19 0 19 Results
Nordic Combined (Skiing) 26 0 26 Results
Rhythmic Gymnastics (Gymnastics) 0 2 2 Results
Rowing 193 68 261 Results
Sailing 65 2 67 Results
Shooting 79 6 85 Results
Ski Jumping (Skiing) 24 0 24 Results
Speed Skating (Skating) 65 32 97 Results
Swimming (Aquatics) 122 70 192 Results
Table Tennis 2 3 5 Results
Tennis 4 3 7 Results
Volleyball (Volleyball) 51 56 107 Results
Water Polo (Aquatics) 65 0 65 Results
Weightlifting 56 0 56 Results
Wrestling 129 0 129 Results

Medals by Games

Edition Competition Type Gold Silver Bronze Total
1980 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 80 69 46 195
1988 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 55 31 46 132
1972 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 50 27 22 99
1976 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 49 41 35 125
1960 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 43 29 31 103
1956 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 37 29 32 98
1964 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 30 31 35 96
1968 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 29 32 30 91
1952 Summer Olympics Olympic Games 22 30 19 71
1976 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 13 6 8 27
1988 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 11 9 9 29
1964 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 11 8 6 25
1980 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 10 6 6 22
1972 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 8 5 3 16
1960 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 7 5 9 21
1956 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 7 3 6 16
1984 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 6 10 9 25
1968 Winter Olympics Olympic Games 5 5 3 13

Medals by sport

Olympic Games

Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Artistic Gymnastics 72 67 43 182
Athletics 64 55 74 193
Wrestling 62 31 23 116
Weightlifting 39 21 2 62
Canoe Sprint 28 13 8 49
Cross Country Skiing 25 22 21 68
Speed Skating 24 17 19 60
Fencing 18 15 16 49
Shooting 17 15 17 49
Boxing 14 19 18 51
Swimming 12 21 26 59
Rowing 12 20 10 42
Figure Skating 10 9 5 24
Biathlon 9 5 5 19
Volleyball 7 4 1 12
Ice Hockey 7 1 1 9
Cycling Track 6 4 6 16
Judo 5 5 13 23
Modern Pentathlon 5 5 5 15
Cycling Road 5 0 3 8
Sailing 4 5 3 12
Diving 4 4 6 14
Basketball 4 4 4 12
Equestrian Dressage 4 3 3 10
Handball 4 1 1 6
Water Polo 2 2 3 7
Football 2 0 3 5
Archery 1 3 3 7
Luge 1 2 3 6
Equestrian Eventing 1 1 1 3
Equestrian Jumping 1 1 0 2
Bobsleigh 1 0 2 3
Canoe Marathon 1 0 1 2
Rhythmic Gymnastics 1 0 1 2
Ski Jumping 1 0 0 1
Nordic Combined 0 1 2 3
Hockey 0 0 2 2
Alpine Skiing 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Includes medals won as part of mixed teams.

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Larisa Latynina URS
UKR
9 5 4 18
Nikolay Andrianov RUS
URS
7 5 3 15
Boris Shakhlin URS
UKR
7 4 2 13
Viktor Chukarin URS
UKR
7 3 1 11
Lidiya Skoblikova RUS
URS
6 0 0 6
Polina Astakhova URS
UKR
5 2 3 10
Nelli Kim BLR
URS
5 1 0 6
Lyudmila Turishcheva RUS
URS
4 3 2 9
Galina Kulakova RUS
URS
4 2 2 8
Olga Korbut BLR
URS
4 2 0 6

IOC Members

Konstantin Andrianov 1951—1988
Aleksey Romanov 1952—1971
Aleksey Romanov 1971—1979
Vitaly Smirnov 1971—1991
Marat Gramov 1988—1991