The First Flag Bearer For Team CCCP
History in Color:
Legendary Soviet super heavyweight, Yakov Kutsenko carries the national flag at the opening ceremony of the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
It was the first Olympics that the USSR ever participated in and Olympic weightlifter Yakov Kutsenko was the first flag bearer of the nation.
From 1937 to 1952, Kutsenko won 14 USSR championships, 2 European Championships (1947, 1950). He was a vice champion of the World in 1946 and 1950 and set 3 world records (all in cj). Kutsnko later was the head coach of the Team CCCP Weightlifting.
All Soviet flag bearers at the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics are listed below:
Year | Athlete | Discipline |
---|---|---|
1952 | Yakov Kutsenko | Olympic Weightlifting |
1956 | Alexey Medvedev | Olympic Weightlifting |
1960 | Yury Vlasov | Olympic Weightlifting |
1964 | Yury Vlasov | Olympic Weightlifting |
1968 | Leonid Zhabotinsky | Olympic Weightlifting |
1972 | Alexander Medved | Wrestling |
1976 | Nikolay Balboshin | Wrestling |
1980 | Nikolay Balboshin | Wrestling |
1988 | Alexander Karelin | Wrestling |
The flag bearers were usually selected from the most popular and successful sport disciplines.
Out of 9 Olympics, there were five times when the flag was carried by weightlifters and four times by wrestlers.