The years of the Great Patriotic War were an important period for Russian and world history; not only everyday life changed, but also sporting life. On the 80th anniversary of the Victory, we will tell you about the role of sport during the battles and remember the country's heroes, their valiant feats and key events that brought the memorable May Day closer.

Throughout the course of the Great Patriotic War, sport remained an integral part of the lives of both home front workers and fighters who defended their homeland on the battlefields. Competitions were held not only in areas remote from the battles, but also in the Nazi-occupied territories. After the crucial year of 1943 - the victories in the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk, thanks to which the Soviet people were able to give a powerful repulse to the invaders, several striking sporting events took place.

Especially memorable was the first half of 1944.  In winter there were skiing competitions among rural youth. In spring there was a track-and-field cross-country race, in which more than 104 thousand runners took part. And on 23-24 June the XIX USSR championship in weightlifting was held, 39 people took part in it.

One of the main sporting events of 1944 was the USSR Cup in football, which was played after a five-year break. In the final match Leningrad ‘Zenit’ and Moscow CDKA (CSKA), the match ended with a score - 2:1. The radio report was followed with interest by front-line veterans, patients of military hospitals, and travellers from the rear enterprises.

Honoured Master of Sports in boxing Nikolai Korolev became the absolute champion of the USSR in boxing in 1944-1945. From the very beginning of the war he went to the front as a volunteer, where he first fought in the ranks of the Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of Special Purpose, which included many other volunteer athletes. And then he went with a partisan detachment to resist the invaders' plans.

- In difficult moments I always remembered physical training and sports with a kind word. Physical training hardened me and made it easier to bear all the hardships and deprivations of partisan life. It helped me to become a good fighter. I quickly orientated myself, for example, in the course of combat fights,’ Nikolai Korolev wrote in his book “In the Ring”.

In February 1945, a week after the liberation of Budapest, Iskander Faizullin, a surgeon of the 347th Guards Vienna Regiment and Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR, made a record-breaking swim along the Danube. In honour of the successes of the Red Army, the record holder covered 100 km in 17 hours 54 minutes and 47 seconds.

- I started at dawn, at 6:30 a.m., on the Czechoslovakian shore, near Komarno. There was a lot of stuff in the Danube! Remains of pontoons, wrecks of boats, logs, iron girders of bridges. The sun rose and set, but I kept sailing past the Danube towns. Sob and Vác, Nagymaros and Dunakesi were left behind.... Quite recently our Guards regiment passed through here, liberating the Hungarian land from the fascists. When it got dark, they illuminated my way with searchlights and rockets,’ Iskander Faizullin recalled.

The traditional cycling race along the Garden Ring, which has been held annually in Moscow since 1920, was not suspended even during the Great Patriotic War. Its first champion - the Muscovite Grigory Kozlov heroically died in combat battles against the Nazis.

After the Great Victory - 22-24 June 1945, the XX USSR Weightlifting Championship was held in Sverdlovsk, 53 athletes competed for the Victory. And in July, the first post-war Spartakiade was held, and its participants were also front-line soldiers.

Based on electronic resources of the Heraklion Foundation and the Lokomotiv Children's Youth Sports School.

Photo: Heraklion Foundation