Russia and the Participation of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Olympic Movement at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the complex issue of the relations between sports and politics. The participation of the Russian Empire and its national region, the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the early Olympic movement is considered in the more wider context in the influence 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 significant factors in development of the Finnish national movement and an essential element of the self-affirmation 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 firmly 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.