Female Athletes

Label

National cultural context plays a part in the building of gendered connotations around sport. While places such as the UK banned women from competing in sports like soccer in the mid- to late 1900s, places such as the Soviet Union always ran state-sponsored athletics programs for both men and women. The Soviet Union saw the Olympics and athletic dominance as a way of showcasing physical Soviet superiority across both genders. In these images by Soviet photographer Dmitri Baltermants, we see male and female athletes standing at attention with the Soviet flag and wearing uniforms containing the Soviet crest, suggesting their participation at an international sporting event. In one image, we see two female athletes touching, sharing an intimate moment. This image raises questions about their relationship. Are they competitors? Friends? Or possibly more?

From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 123, Elegantly Violent: Exploring Masculinity and Gender Expectations within Women’s Sports, curated by Josephine (Josie) Harrison ’25, Mellon Special Project Intern

Provenance

Produced by the Dmitri Baltermants Collection, LLC, Scarsdale, New York; sold to present collection (arranged through Harley and Stephen C. Osman, Class of 1956, Tuck 1957), 2003.

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