Influence of High-performance Sports on the Formation of Armenian Citizens’ National Identity in the Second Half of the 20th Century

The authors examine a little-studied scientific problem: the connection between the collective image of the future and sporting identity, which is based on the achievements of talented Armenian athletes such as Tigran Petrosyan (chess), Yuri Vardanyan (weightlifting), and Eduard Azaryan (gymnastics). It is shown that their successes, as well as those of the Ararat football club enhanced the Armenians’ national pride. The authors conclude that in the late 1980s, sport became a communicative mechanism for expressing national sentiment. In the context of Soviet reality, the achievements of Armenian athletes aroused a sense of pride among citizens and contributed to the increasing of national self-awareness, shaping a positive image of Armenia both within the USSR and internationally. The success stories of outstanding Armenian athletes, their performances on the international stage and at world championships, have become part of the nation’s cultural heritage. In the second half of the 20th century, high-performance sports in the Armenian SSR, serving as a means of social consolidation and a symbol of national pride for the Armenian people, influenced social processes in the multinational USSR, fostering a sense of local identity.