‘If You Want to Be Like Me, Train!’: the Contradictions of Soviet Masculinity

Abstract

‘If you want to be like me, train!’ a Soviet athlete declaims in a 1950 sport poster (Fig. 5).¹ The message to the boy who sits beside him, looking admiringly at the man’s massive biceps, is that he too can become a Soviet sportsman if he works properly and diligently. This was the predominant message of athletics to Soviet citizens throughout the postwar period. Athletes were presented to the public as exemplars of three principles. The first was that pre-eminence in sport was more a function of systematic training than of talent. Secondly, any Soviet citizen could achieve such pre-eminence and by doing so would con-tribute to the nation’s greatness. And thirdly, it was the responsibility of Soviet men and women who did become sports heroes to serve as examples, especially to the younger generation.