Soviet Athletes Were Considered Soldiers in Cold War, Officials Say

MOSCOW —  Soviet sports officials say that athletes formerly were considered soldiers in ideological warfare.

“For a long time, there existed the belief here that the results of U.S. and Soviet athletes depicted the social systems of those countries,” Marat Gramov, chairman of the national Olympic committee and a member of the International Olympic Committee, said in a recent interview.

“There was an opinion that the socialist system guaranteed outstanding results. This is rubbish. People who were not thoughtful, this was their invention.”

“Have mercy,” said Alexander Kozlovsky, deputy chairman of the Soviet sports committee, Goskomsport. “That was our history. We read that, we heard that, we talked like that. It is now difficult for some people to say it’s not true.”

He recalled that the IOC’s decision to award the 1980 Summer Olympics to Moscow was perceived by many government and sports leaders as recognition of the country’s political system.

“Forgive these people in our country for their exaggerated idea of sport,” he said.