Specifics of the popularization of sports in the Russian press of the pre-revolutionary period (using the example of sports magazines of the late XIX - early XX centuries)

The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that in the Soviet period the pages of the history of the sports life of pre-revolutionary Russia were interpreted in accordance with the ideologies of the time or deleted from the cultural and historical discourse. The problem of the study is that today there remains a range of issues related to a deeper study of the socio-cultural aspects of the genesis of Russian sports, the specifics of the first stages of its development, the integration of Russian sports into the international sports and Olympic movement. One of the objective sources of studying this problem is the periodical press, which reflects the interest of society in various phenomena, issues and problems of the time. The object of the study is sports magazines published in Russia in the pre-revolutionary period. The subject of research is the specifics of the popularization of sports in Russian periodicals at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. This period is characterized by the progressive development of sports in the cultural space of pre-revolutionary Russia. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of the pre-revolutionary press in popularizing sports in Russia, disseminating the ideas of Olympism, and shaping the population's need for physical education and sports. The methodology of the interdisciplinary approach used in the work determines the inclusion in the study of an analysis of examples from periodicals illustrating the formats of sports presentation in the cultural space of pre-revolutionary Russia at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. The source base was sports periodicals: separate issues of the magazines "Russian Sport," "To Sport!," "Hercules," "Chess Review," "Falcon," "Beauty and Strength," "Bulletin of Sports and Tourism." The author concludes that the Russian press of the pre-revolutionary period performed a number of functions: information, educational, organizational, propaganda, presenting information about world and Russian sports forums, about the performances of Russian athletes, results and sports achievements, the development of sports in educational institutions, and in general - in large industrial centers of the Russian Empire. Materials on sports and Olympic topics published in the print media had a significant impact on the formation of public opinion about sports as a social phenomenon, contributed to the formation and development of the domestic sports and Olympic movement, the dissemination and popularization of the ideas of Olympism in Russia. The results of the study have sociocultural significance and may be of interest for further research.

sports, Olympism, Olympic Games, magazines, newspapers, propaganda, popularization, cultura, Russian press, prerevolutionary period