Central Sports Club of the Army

a sports organization of the Armed Forces of the USSR, founded in 1923 in Moscow as the Experimental Universal Military Training Ground. The club became the Central Voluntary Club of the Army in 1928 and the Central Sports Club of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in 1953; it assumed its present name in 1963.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s, the club’s athletes made a great contribution to the development of the Soviet physical-culture and sports movement. The athletes included B. V. Andreev (shooting), A. I. Bozhko (weight lifting), G. V. Baklanov (gymnastics), D. M. Vasil’ev (skiing), A. A. Demin (track and field), V. T. Proshin (speed skating), and K. M. Zhiboedov (soccer).

Since the late 1940’s, the club’s athletes have constituted the greater part of Soviet teams in most Olympic sports.

From its inception until Jan. 1, 1977, the club trained more than 1,300 Masters of Sport, more than 600 International-class Masters of Sport, 357 Honored Masters of Sport, 87 Honored Coaches of the USSR, 59 Honored Coaches of the RSFSR, 24 International-class Referees, and 171 National-class Referees.

The club’s athletes have won championships of the USSR approximately 4,000 times, of the Spartakiads of Friendly Armies more than 800 times, of Europe 796 times, of the world 585 times, and of the Olympics 182 times. They have set 1,505 national records, 331 European records, and 420 world records. Twenty Soviet championships have been won by the club’s athletes in ice hockey and volleyball, 20 in basketball, six in soccer, and seven in women’s volleyball. They have won the European Cup six times in hockey, five times in volleyball, and four times in basketball.

Many athletes of the club have on several occasions won Soviet, European, world, and Olympic championships, making a considerable contribution to Soviet victories at major international contests. They include E. N. Alekseev, G. G. Vol’nov, and S. A. Belov (basketball); A. V. Abramov, S. G. Grigor’ev, S. I. Stepashkin, and V. I. Lemeshev (boxing); A. I. Mazur, A. V. Ivanitskii, A. I. Kolesov, and A. A. Roshchin (wrestling); K. K. Reva, G. G. Mondzolevskii, and T. P. Tret’iakova (volleyball); R. E. Vargashkin, G. V. Ermolaeva, and V. N. lardy (cycling); S. V. Diomidov, V. Ia. Klimenko, and O. D. Karaseva (gymnastics); V. T. Ivanov (rowing); S. I. Filatov and I. A. Kalita (equestrian sports); E. R. Grishin and V. A. Muratov (speed skating); and F. K. Vanin, V. P. Kuts, N. A. Ponomareva, N. G. Otkalen-ko, and R. I. Klim (track and field).

Other prominent athletes who have won several championships include V. S. Kuzin, V. M. Melan’in, and S. T. Savel’ev (skiing); S. P. Boichenko, G. N. Prozumenshchikova-Stepanova, and V. V. Bure (swimming); P. S. Lednev and V. K. Shmelev (modern pentathlon); A. I. Bogdanov, V. M. Kornev, I. G. Bakalov, and V. M. Parkhimovich (shooting); Iu. P. Vlasov, T. F. Lomakin, A. N. Vorob’ev, L. I. Zhabotinskii, and V. G. Kurent-sov (weight lifting); G. I. Fedotov, A. V. Bashashkin, V. A. Nikolaev, and A. A. Shesternev (soccer); G. A. Sveshnikov, M. P. Midler, M. S. Rakita, V. A. Nazlymov, and V. A. Sidiak (fencing); I. K. Rodnina, A. N. Ulanov, and A. G. Zaitsev (figure skating); and V. M. Bobrov, N. M. Sologubov, I. S. Tregubov, K. B. Loktev, A. D. Al’metov, V. V. Aleksandrov, V. G. Kuz’kin, A. V. Firsov, A. P. Ragulin, V. B. Kharlamov, B. P. Mikhailov, V. V. Petrov, and V. A. Tret’iak (ice hockey).

The club’s staff includes such famous coaches as A. Ia. Gomel’skii (basketball), V. N. Pshenitsyn (biathlon), Iu. M. Radoniak (boxing), G. A. Vershinin (wrestling), V. A. Kapitonov and R. M. Rostovtsev (cycling), M. I. Viner and Iu. B. Chesnokov (volleyball), M. Ia. Klimenko (gymnastics), L. P. Baklyshkin and G. T. Chereda (equestrian sports), A. V. Akent’ev (skiing), V. N. Dedova (diving), B. P. Mishchenko (sambo wrestling), E. S. Sdobnikov (modern pentathlon), E. A. Khaidurov (shooting), V. I. Kaplunov (weight lifting), V. A. Arkad’ev and D. A. Tyshler (fencing), S. A. Zhuk (figure skating), B. A. Arkad’ev (soccer), and A. V. Tarasov (ice hockey).

The club has 18 specialized sports schools for children and young people. Its athletic facilities include palaces of weight lifting and tennis, as well as complexes for speed and figure skating, soccer and track and field, and children’s sports and health training. The club also has an indoor swimming pool, various gymnasiums, a shooting range, a stadium, a center for equestrian sports, and a sports-medicine dispensary. Approximately 30 sports were practiced by the club’s members in 1977.

About 300 athletes and coaches of the club have won government awards for athletic achievements. In 1976 the Ministry of Defense of the USSR established the badge Veteran of the Central Sports Club of the Army.

The club was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1973.