Our Notes & References

Scarce first edition of this early, richly illustrated booklet about Soviet women in sports. It was republished later the same year.

Apparently no copies traced in Western libraries.

The text is divided into chapters by type of competition — covering various forms of running, jumping, and discus throw, as well as physical conditioning exercises with detailed explanations and diagrams illustrating the correct technique. It concludes with a recognition of the achievements of Soviet women athletes in the early era of women’s sporting tournaments. Numerous photographs of Soviet women athletes offer a lively sense of what such competitions looked like.

Something of a handbook and a monograph, the book is a fine witness to the important role that physical exercise and competition played in the Soviet educational system.

The authors of the text were the young Maria Shamanova (1908–94), a Soviet athlete, 14-time (!) champion of the USSR and “the first Soviet athlete to win victories in international track-and-field competitions” (Great Soviet Encyclopaedia); and Iuri Vonzblein, a prolific author of numerous publications across a wide range of sporting disciplines.

The editor was Georgii Duperron (1877–1934), a sports theoretician and journalist, one of the founders of the football movement in the Russian Empire, a professor at the Lesgaft Institute of Physical Education and curator of its museum. He also served as chief librarian and head of the celebrated “Russica” department at the National Public Library.

Bibliography

Duperron G. A. / Russian National Library’s Employees –– Scientists and Cultural Workers. T. 1–4. Biographical dictionary. Electronic version.; Shamanova Maria Gavrilovna // Great Soviet Encyclopedia, in 30 v.; 3rd edition; Moskva: Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia.”.