Champions of the Spirit

After decades of political antagonism, the Soviet Union finally made its first Olympic appearance in the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki. Team USSR shocked the world, coming in second in medal count only to the USA. However, very few around the world knew what members of the Soviet team have lived through. WWII had ended a few years back. Many of them were front line soldiers, siege of Leningrad survivors, and a number went through multiple Nazi concentration camps. Often underweight and ill-equipped, these spirited young men and women ended up taking 20 Gold, 30 Silver, and 19 Bronze nevertheless.