The XXII Olympic Games in Sochi: Exhibition “White Games classified as “secret” (the USSR and the Winter Olympic Games. 1956-1988) in Moscow

December 6, 2013 at the Exhibition hall of Federal Archives (Moscow) is open the exhibition “White Games classified as “secret” (the USSR and the Winter Olympic Games. 1956-1988).

The Winter Olympic Games since the beginning of its history on 1924 have always been the center of public attention and have had popularity around the world. In the Soviet Union, to participate in the Winter Olympics since 1956, these competitions had special importance, as in a “cold war” the Olympic Games, as a rule, became a place of confrontation between two political systems, and the victories in sports were designed to confirm the correctness of the chosen by country course.

In Soviet times, the competitions at the Winter Olympics were widely reflected in numerous publications, photo albums and memoirs. However, for a long time a huge reservoir of archival documents on the history of participation of Soviet athletes in the Winter Olympics has remained inaccessible. Once equipped with different security classifications and now removed from the closed storage, these documents contain important information relating to the various aspects of the history of the Olympic Winter Games, reveal the inner workings of preparation and holding one of the main sports forums of the recent history show backstage political “games around the Games”.

All these, for the most part for the first time presented to a wide audience, archival materials in conjunction with photo-and film-documents, museum exhibits (including from private collections) are the backbone of the exhibition “White Games classified as “secret” (the USSR and the Winter Olympic games. 1956-1988)”, dedicated to the history of Soviet athletes participating in the Winter Olympics and dedicated to the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.