Russian Sports and Recreation
Russian sports teams and athletes have a long tradition of excellence. Thanks to the Soviet's emphasis on sport and physical education, Russian and Ukrainian athletes began to dominate the podium starting from the early 1950s. While funding has slowed and medal counts have waned in recent years, sport still remains a source of great national pride.
Most of Russia and Ukraine's most beloved sports are remnants of the Soviet era, but as you can see, there are a few sports that have quickly gained popularity in post Soviet times.
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Auto Racing Chess Rugby |
Boxing Martial Arts Weightlifting Cross Country Skiing / Biathlon Track and Field |
While the lack of resources and facilities is a limiting factor for participation in certain sports, a universal past time available to almost all Russians and Ukrainians is outdoor recreation. Thanks to an abundance of parks, wilderness, lakes and rivers, most citizens are privileged to a host of leisure activities involving the great outdoors.
World Spotlight on Russia and Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine are hosting several major sporting events in the coming years. Ukraine and Poland will be playing host to the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, while Russia will host to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
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June 8 to July 1, 2012 learn more about Euro 2012 |
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February 7 to February 23, 2014 learn more about Sochi 2014 |
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Russian Sports - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Cheboksary, Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg), Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Khabarovsk, Kirov, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhniy Novgorod), Novokuznetsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Rostov-na-Donu, Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sochi, Stavropol, Tolyatti (Togliatti) , Tver, Ufa, Ulyanovsk, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Volzhsky, Voronezh, Yaroslavl
Ukrainian Sports - Kiev (Kyiv), Cherkasy (Cherkassy), Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipropetrovsk), Donetsk, Kharkov (Kharkiv), Kherson, Kremenchuk (Kremenchug), Krivoy Rog (Kryviy Rih), Lugansk (Luhansk), Lviv (Lvov), Mariupol, Nikolaev (Mykolaiv), Odessa (Odesa), Poltava, Sevastopol, Simferopol, Sumy, Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia), Zaporozhye (Zaporizhia), Zhitomir (Zhytomyr)
Belarus Sports - Minsk, Gomel (Homel)
Moldova Sports - Chisinau (Kishinev)
Latvia Sports - Riga
Kazakhstan Sports - Almaty |