The 7th Summer Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR () was held in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1979, with the final stage in July and August 1979. Most events of the final stage were held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, with

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

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and

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also hosting some events.

Early stages

The

Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR The Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR (, Spartakiada narodov SSSR; ; ) were mass multi-event competitions in the Soviet Union in 1956–1991, descendants of the 1928 All-Union Spartakiad that took place in Moscow. The competitions were designed t ...

was a mass participation event, with millions of people taking part in competitions associated with it; the early stages consisted of minor qualification meets on the club, local and regional levels, with the best athletes representing their

republics A republic, based on the Latin phrase '' res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although ...

in the final stage. The cities of Moscow and Leningrad also fielded teams, with equal status to the republics.

Final stage

The final stage of the 1979 Spartakiad served as a preparatory meet for the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

of the following year, with many of the same venues being used. For the first time in the history of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, non-Soviet athletes were invited to take part; the final stage featured 2,306 international athletes from 84 nations, as well as 8,338 Soviet athletes. More countries participated in the Spartakiad than in the following year's Olympics, due to the US-led boycott of the latter in protest of the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

; the United States did not boycott the Spartakiad (as the USSR had not yet invaded Afghanistan at the time), although there were some objections in the country to the Soviet non-invitation of athletes from Israel and Egypt. Many of the non-Soviet teams were comparatively weak, and the vast majority of gold medals were won by Soviet athletes. Some world-class international athletes did take part, however;

Miruts Yifter Miruts Yifter (, affectionately known as "Yifter the Shifter", 15 May 1944 – 22 December 2016) was an Ethiopian long-distance runner and winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. His date of birth is often given as 15 May 1944, th ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

won gold in both the 5,000 metres and the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The ...

, a feat he duplicated at the Olympics the following year. Although most events were open to international participation, a number of sports were still limited to Soviet athletes only.

Sports

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References

{{Reflist

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Soviet Spartkiad Sports competitions in Moscow Soviet Spartakiad Soviet Spartakiad