Remembering the Olympics 80

40 years ago, a huge inflatable bear rose to the sky over the Moscow Luzhniki Stadium to the tune "It's getting quieter in the stands..." and all the participants of the closing ceremony of the grand sports festival were crying goodbye to the Olympic mascot-80, who was so beloved by tens of thousands of sports fans. Bear Misha became an integral attribute of every family in the Soviet Union. The author of the teddy bear, the artist of children's books Victor Chizhikov, has gone down in history forever.


Collectors began looking for various items on the theme of the 1980 Olympic Games. Among the collectors was also an instructor of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Polotsk City Executive Committee A.S. Avdachenok. He and his relatives collected badges, pennants, calendars, statuettes and many other items with the emblem of the Moscow Olympics.

Four decades have passed since that memorable event, but even today A.S. Avdachenok keeps unique items related to the Olympic movement. Part of his collection Alexander Stepanovich kindly provided employees of the Museum of Local History of Polotsk for the exhibition "Born to Win". These are 74 badges that attract visitors' attention.

If you have not yet been to our exhibition dedicated to the sports movement of Polotsk, we will be glad to see you! Apart from the badges you can also see an experimental bike made especially for the Moscow Olympics, sports equipment and awards of the Polotsk athletes. We are waiting for you in our museum!

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