Россия и участие Великого княжества Финляндского в олимпийском движении в начале XX в.
Russia and the Participation of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Olympic Move- ment at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Summary/Abstract: This article is dedicated to the complex issue of the relations between sports and politics. The par- ticipation of the Russian Empire and its national region, the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the early Olympic move- ment is considered in the more wider context in the infl of the ideology of nationalism on bilateral Russian/ Finnish relations, the role of sports in the construction of Finnish national identity, the attitude of Russia to Finnish sporting nationalism. The author comes to the conclusion that if the driving forces of Finnish national movement were cultural and linguistic factors in the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century sports achievements became one of signifi factors in development of the Finnish national movement and an essential element of the self-affi of the young nation on the international arena. The employment of sport as an instrument of political struggle was advanced especially by Finnish nationalists at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when the Russian empire strengthened its pressure on the autonomous status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Finland’s participation in the Olympic movement became a symbol of the struggle for independence which had fi taken it roots in national identity. The Finnish ruling elite skillfully used sports achievements to create in Western Europe a positive image of Finland as oppressed by Russian empire, but at the same time an unsubmissive young nation with strong sports traditions.

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