The Soviet Union (USSR) competed, for the last time before its dissolution, at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. 481 competitors, 319 men and 162 women, took part in 221 events in 27 sports. Athletes from 12 of the ex-Soviet republics would compete as the Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and each nation would field independent teams in subsequent Games.

The Soviet Union dominated the medal count, winning 55 gold and 132 total medals. It is the largest Olympic medal tally in history achieved by a non-host nation. Currently, China's and the United States' 48 gold medals in 2008 and 2012 respectively, and the United States' 126 total medals in 2024 are the closest results to the USSR's 1988 performance. The Soviet Union medal tally currently ranks fourth both in terms of gold and total medals, after the United States' 1984 performance, the Soviet Union's 1980 performance, the United States' 1904 performance, and Great Britain's 1908 performance.

Medalists

The Soviet Union finished first in the medal standings with 55 gold and 132 total medals.

Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.

Archery

Women's Individual Competition:

  • Lioudmila Arjannikova – final, 4th place
  • T. Mountain – final, 8th place
  • N. Boutouzova – quarterfinal, 18th place

Men's Individual Competition:

  • Vladimir Echeev – final, bronze medal
  • K. Chkolny – 1/8 final, 20th place
  • Juri Leontiev – preliminary round, 29th place

Women's tournament:

  • Arjannikova, Mountain and Boutouzova – final, 4th place

Men's tournament:

  • Echeev, Chkolny and Leontiev – final, 5th place

Athletics

Men's competition

Men's Marathon

  • Ravil Kashapov
  • Final — 2:13.49 (→ 10th place)

Men's long jump

  • Leonid Volochine
  • Qualification — 7.89m
  • Final — 7.89m (→ 8th place)
  • Robert Emmiyan
  • Qualification — DNF (→ did not advance)
  • Vladimir Otchkan
  • Qualification — DNS (→ did not advance)

Men's discus throw

  • Romas Ubartas
  • Qualification – 65.58m
  • Final – 67.48m (→ Silver medal)
  • Yuriy Dumchev
  • Qualification – 62.08m
  • Final – 66.42m (→ 4th place)
  • Vaclavas Kidykas
  • Qualification – 60.88m (→ did not advance)

Men's shot put

  • Sergey Smirnov
  • Qualification — 20.48m
  • Final — 20.36m (→ 8th place)

Men's Hammer Throw

  • Sergey Litvinov
  • Qualification — 81.24m
  • Final — 84.80m (→ Gold medal)
  • Yuriy Sedykh
  • Qualification — 78.48m
  • Final — 83.76m (→ Silver medal)
  • Jüri Tamm
  • Qualification — 69.68m
  • Final — 81.16m (→ Bronze medal)

Men's javelin throw

  • Viktor Yevsyukov
  • Qualification — 79.26m
  • Final — 82.32m (→ 5th place)
  • Vladimir Ovchinnikov
  • Qualification — 80.26m
  • Final — 79.12m (→ 7th place)

Men's decathlon

  • Pavel Tarnovetsky — 8167 points (→ 10th place)
  1. 100 metres — 11.23s
  2. Long Jump — 7.28m
  3. Shot Put — 15.25m
  4. High Jump — 1.97m
  5. 400 metres — 48.60s
  6. 110m Hurdles — 14.76s
  7. Discus Throw — 48.02m
  8. Pole Vault — 5.20m
  9. Javelin Throw — 59.48m
  10. 1.500 metres — 4:52.24s

Men's 20 km Walk

  • Mikhail Shchennikov
  • Final — 1:20:47 (→ 6th place)
  • Aleksey Pershin
  • Final — 1:22:32 (→ 14th place)
  • Yevgeniy Misyulya
  • Final — 1:24:39 (→ 27th place)

Men's 50 km Walk

  • Vyacheslav Ivanenko
  • Final — 3:38:29 (→ Gold medal)
  • Aleksandr Potashov
  • Final — 3:41:00 (→ 4th place)
  • Vitaliy Popovych
  • Final — 3:59:23 (→ 26th place)

Women's competition

Women's 4 × 400 m Relay

  • Lyudmila Dzhigalova, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina and Olga Bryzgina
  • Heat — 3:27.14
  • Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina and Olga Bryzgina
  • Final — 3:15.18 (→ Gold medal)

Women's Marathon

  • Tatyana Polovinskaya
  • Final — 2:27.05 (→ 4th place)
  • Zoya Ivanova
  • Final — 2:30.25 (→ 9th place)
  • Raisa Smekhnova
  • Final — 2:33.19 (→ 16th place)

Women's discus throw

  • Ellina Zvereva
  • Qualification – 63.26m
  • Final – 68.94m (→ 5th place)
  • Larisa Mikhalchenko
  • Qualification – 64.32m
  • Final – 64.08m (→ 10th place)
  • Galina Murasova
  • Qualification – 62.54m
  • Final – NM (→ no ranking)

Women's javelin throw

  • Irina Kostyuchenkova
  • Qualification – 63.24m
  • Final – 67.00m (→ 4th place)
  • Natalya Yermolovich
  • Qualification – 64.44m
  • Final – 64.84m (→ 6th place)

Women's shot put

  • Natalya Lisovskaya
  • Qualification – 19.78m
  • Final – 22.24m (→ Gold medal)
  • Natalya Akhrimenko
  • Qualification – 19.40m
  • Final – 20.13m (→ 7th place)
  • Valentina Fedjuschina
  • Qualification – 19.06m (→ did not advance)

Women's Heptathlon

  • Natalya Shubenkova
  • Final Result — 6540 points (→ 4th place)
  • Remigija Sablovskaitė
  • Final Result — 6456 points (→ 5th place)
  • Svetlana Buraga
  • Final Result — 6232 points (→ 10th place)

Basketball

Men's tournament

Team roster

The following is the Soviet Union roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Group play
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Gold medal match

Women's tournament

Team roster

The following is the Soviet Union roster in the women's basketball tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics.

Group play
Semifinals
Bronze medal match

Boxing

Men's Light Flyweight (– 48 kg)

  • Alexander Makhmutov
  • First Round — Bye
  • Second Round — Defeated Carlos Eluaiza (Argentina), 5:0
  • Third Round — Defeated Jesus Beltre (Dominican Republic), 4:1
  • Quarterfinals — Lost to Ivailo Marinov (Bulgaria), 0:5

Men's Flyweight (– 51 kg)

  • Timofey Skryabin

Men's Bantamweight (– 54 kg)

  • Aleksandr Artemyev

Men's Featherweight (– 57 kg)

  • Mekhak Ghazaryan

Men's Lightweight (– 60 kg)

  • Kostya Tszyu

Men's Light-Welterweight (– 63.5 kg)

  • Vyacheslav Yanovsky

Men's Welterweight (– 67 kg)

  • Vladimir Yereshchenko

Men's Light-Middleweight (– 71 kg)

  • Yevgeni Zaytsev

Men's Middleweight (– 75 kg)

  • Ruslan Taramov

Men's Light-Heavyweight (– 81 kg)

  • Nurmagomed Shanavazov

Men's Heavyweight (– 91 kg)

  • Ramzan Sebiyev

Men's Super-Heavyweight ( 91 kg)

  • Alex Miroshnichenko

Canoeing

Cycling

Eighteen cyclists, fourteen men and four women, represented the Soviet Union in 1988.

Men's road race
  • Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
  • Asiat Saitov
  • Riho Suun
Men's team time trial
  • Vasil Zhdanov
  • Viktor Klimov
  • Asiat Saitov
  • Igor Sumnikov
Men's sprint
  • Nikolai Kovsh
Men's 1 km time trial
  • Aleksandr Kirichenko
Men's individual pursuit
  • Gintautas Umaras
Men's team pursuit
  • Viatcheslav Ekimov
  • Artūras Kasputis
  • Dmitry Nelyubin
  • Gintautas Umaras
  • Mindaugas Umaras
Men's points race
  • Marat Ganeyev
Women's road race
  • Laima Zilporytė — 2:00:52 (→ Bronze medal)
  • Valentina Yevpak — 2:00:52 (→ 5th place)
  • Alla Jakovleva — 2:00:52 (→ 34th place)
Women's sprint
  • Erika Salumäe

Diving

Men
Women

Equestrian

Men's show jump team
  • Raimundas Udrakis

Fencing

20 fencers, 15 men and 5 women, represented the Soviet Union in 1988.

Men's foil
  • Aleksandr Romankov
  • Ilgar Mamedov
  • Boris Koretsky
Men's team foil
  • Aleksandr Romankov, Ilgar Mamedov, Vladimer Aptsiauri, Anvar Ibragimov, Boris Koretsky
Men's épée
  • Andrey Shuvalov
  • Wladimir Reznitschenko
  • Mykhailo Tyshko
Men's team épée
  • Andrey Shuvalov, Pavel Kolobkov, Wladimir Reznitschenko, Mykhailo Tyshko, Igor Tikhomirov
Men's sabre
  • Heorhiy Pohosov
  • Andrey Alshan
  • Sergey Mindirgasov
Men's team sabre
  • Sergey Mindirgasov, Mikhail Burtsev, Heorhiy Pohosov, Andrey Alshan, Sergey Koryashkin
Women's foil
  • Tatyana Sadovskaya
  • Yelena Glikina
  • Olga Voshchakina
Women's team foil
  • Yelena Glikina, Yelena Grishina, Tatyana Sadovskaya, Marina Soboleva, Olga Voshchakina

Football

Gymnastics

Handball

Hockey

Men's tournament

  • Preliminary round (group B)
  • Soviet Union – India 1–0
  • Soviet Union – South Korea 3–1
  • Soviet Union – Canada 0–0
  • Soviet Union – Great Britain 1–3
  • Soviet Union – West Germany 0–6
  • Classification Matches
  • 5th–8th place: Soviet Union – Pakistan 0–1
  • 7th–8th place: Soviet Union – Argentina 4–1 (→ 7th place)
  • Team roster
  • (01.) Vladimir Pleshakov (gk)
  • (02.) Viktor Deputatov
  • (03.) Igor Yulchiev
  • (04.) Sos Hayrapetyan
  • (05.) Nikolai Sankovetch
  • (06.) Vladimir Antakov (captain)
  • (07.) Vyacheslav Chechenev
  • (08.) Igor Atanov
  • (09.) Sergei Chakhvorostov
  • (10.) Sergei Pleshakov
  • (11.) Mikhail Nechipurenko
  • (12.) Alexander Domachev (gk)
  • (13.) Igor Davydov
  • (14.) Aleksandr Miasnikov
  • (15.) Yevgeni Nechaev
  • (16.) Mikhail Bukatin
  • Head coach: Leonid Pavlovsky

Judo

Modern pentathlon

Three male pentathletes represented the Soviet Union in 1988. Vaho Iagorashvili won a bronze in the individual event.

Individual
  • Vaho Iagorashvili
  • German Yuferov
  • Anatoly Avdeyev
Team
  • Vaho Iagorashvili
  • German Yuferov
  • Anatoly Avdeyev

Rhythmic gymnastics

Rowing

The Soviet Union had 30 male and 23 female rowers participate in all 14 rowing events in 1988.

Men's competition
Men's single sculls
  • Jüri Jaanson
Men's double sculls
  • Oleksandr Marchenko
  • Vasil Yakusha
Men's coxless pair
  • Igor Zuborenko
  • Valery Vyrvich
Men's coxed pair
  • Andrey Korikov
  • Roman Kazantsev
  • Andrey Lipsky (cox)
Men's quadruple sculls
  • Pavel Krupko
  • Oleksandr Zaskalko
  • Sergey Kinyakin
  • Yuriy Zelikovich
Men's coxless four
  • Ivan Vysotskiy
  • Sergey Smirnov
  • Yuriy Pimenov
  • Nikolay Pimenov
Men's coxed four
  • Sigitas Kučinskas
  • Jonas Narmontas
  • Vladimir Romanishin
  • Igor Zotov
  • Sergey Titov (cox)
Men's eight
  • Veniamin But
  • Mykola Komarov
  • Vasily Tikhonov
  • Aleksandr Dumchev
  • Pavlo Hurkovskiy
  • Viktor Diduk
  • Viktor Omelyanovich
  • Andrey Vasilyev
  • Aleksandr Lukyanov (cox)
Women's competition
Women's single sculls
  • Nataliya Kvasha
Women's double sculls
  • Marina Zhukova
  • Mariya Omelianovych
Women's coxless pair
  • Sarmīte Stone
  • Marina Smorodina
Women's quadruple sculls
  • Irina Kalimbet
  • Svitlana Maziy
  • Inna Frolova
  • Antonina Zelikovich
Women's coxed four
  • Reda Ribinskaitė
  • Elena Tereshina
  • Irina Teterina
  • Marina Suprun
  • Valentina Khokhlova (cox)
Women's eight
  • Margarita Teselko
  • Marina Znak
  • Nadezhda Sugako
  • Sandra Brazauskaitė
  • Olena Pukhaieva
  • Sariya Zakyrova
  • Nataliya Fedorenko
  • Lidiya Averyanova
  • Aušra Gudeliūnaitė (cox)

Sailing

Shooting

Swimming

Men's 50 m Freestyle

  • Gennadiy Prigoda
    1. Heat – 22.57
    2. Final – 22.71 (→ Bronze medal)
  • Vladimir Tkachenko
    1. Heat – 22.81
    2. Final – 22.88 (→ 6th place)

Men's 100 m Freestyle

  • Gennadiy Prigoda
    1. Heat – 50.13
    2. Final – 49.75 (→ 4th place)
  • Yuri Bashkatov
    1. Heat – 50.08
    2. Final – 50.08 (→ 5th place)

Men's 200 m Freestyle

  • Alexei Kouznetsov
    1. Heat – 1:50.84
    2. B-Final – 1:51.03 (→ 12th place)
  • Yuri Bashkatov
    1. Heat – 1:52.04 (→ did not advance, 22nd place)

Men's 400 m Freestyle

  • Alexandre Bazanov
    1. Heat – 3:58.74 (→ did not advance, 27th place)

Men's 1500 m Freestyle

  • Vladimir Salnikov
    1. Heat – 15:07.83
    2. Final – 15:00.40 (→ Gold medal)

Men's 100 m Backstroke

  • Igor Polyansky
    1. Heat – 55.04
    2. Final – 55.20 (→ Bronze medal)
  • Serguei Zabolotnov
    1. Heat – 56.13
    2. Final – 55.37 (→ 4th place)

Men's 200 m Backstroke

  • Igor Polyansky
    1. Heat – 2:01.70
    2. Final – 1:59.37 (→ Gold medal)
  • Serguei Zabolotnov
    1. Heat – 2:01.27
    2. Final – 2:00.52 (→ 4th place)

Men's 100 m Breaststroke

  • Dmitry Volkov
    1. Heat – 1:02.49
    2. Final – 1:02.20 (→ Bronze medal)
  • Alexei Matveev
    1. Heat – 1:03.25
    2. B-Final – 1:03.01 (→ 9th place)

Men's 200 m Breaststroke

  • Valeri Lozik
    1. Heat – 2:16.31
    2. Final – 2:16.16 (→ 5th place)
  • Vadim Alexeev
    1. Heat – 2:17.15
    2. B-Final – 2:16.70 (→ 6th place)

Men's 100 m Butterfly

  • Vadim Yaroshchuk
    1. Heat – 54.17
    2. Final – 54.60 (→ 8th place)
  • Konstantine Petrov
    1. Heat – 55.84 (→ did not advance, 23rd place)

Men's 200 m Butterfly

  • Vadim Yaroshchuk
    1. Heat – 2:01.05
    2. B-Final – 2:00.34 (→ 11th place)

Men's 200 m Individual Medley

  • Vadim Yaroshchuk
    1. Heat – 2:02.77
    2. Final – 2:02.40 (→ Bronze medal)
  • Mikhail Zoubkov
    1. Heat – 2:03.79
    2. Final – 2:02.92 (→ 4th place)

Men's 400 m Individual Medley

  • Mikhail Zoubkov
    1. Heat – 4:25.30
    2. B-Final – 4:25.44 (→ 13th place)

Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

  • Raimundas Mažuolis, Alexei Borislavski, Nikolai Evseev and Vladimir Tkachenko
    1. Heat – 3:19.89
  • Gennadiy Prigoda, Yuri Bashkatov, Nikolai Evseev and Vladimir Tkachenko
    1. Final – 3:18.33 (→ Silver medal)

Men's 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay

  • Serguei Kouriaev, Alexandre Bazanov, Nikolai Evseev and Aleksei Kouznetsov
    1. Heat – DSQ (→ did not advance, no ranking)

Men's 4 × 100 m Medley Relay

  • Serguei Zabolotnov, Valeri Lozik, Konstantine Petrov and Nikolai Evseev
    1. Heat – 3:45.29
  • Igor Polyansky, Dmitry Volkov, Vadim Yaroshchuk and Gennadiy Prigoda
    1. Final – 3:39.96 (→ Bronze medal)


Women's 50 m Freestyle

  • Inna Abramova
    1. Heat – 26.27
    2. B-Final – 26.48 (→ 14th place)

Women's 100 m Freestyle

  • Natalia Trefilova
    1. Heat – 56.66
    2. B-Final – 56.48 (→ 9th place)
  • Svetlana Issakova
    1. Heat – 57.17
    2. B-Final – 57.07 (→ 15th place)

Women's 200 m Freestyle

  • Natalia Trefilova
    1. Heat – 2:00.54
    2. Final – 1:59.24 (→ 5th place)

Women's 400 m Freestyle

  • Natalia Trefilova
    1. Heat – 4:12.20
    2. Final – 4:13.92 (→ 8th place)

Women's 800 m Freestyle

  • Natalia Trefilova
    1. Heat – 8:43.19 (→ did not advance, 15th place)

Women's 100 m Breaststroke

  • Yelena Volkova
    1. Heat – 1:09.86
    2. Final – 1:09.24 (→ 5th place)
  • Svetlana Kouzmina
    1. Heat – 1:10.83
    2. B-Final – 1:10.42 (→ 9th place)

Women's 200 m Breaststroke

  • Yulia Bogatcheva
    1. Heat – 2:28.94
    2. Final – 2:28.54 (→ 5th place)
  • Svetlana Kouzmina
    1. Heat – 2:30.93
    2. B-Final – 2:30.03 (→ 10th place)

Women's 100 m Breaststroke

  • Ana Elizbarashvili
    1. Heat – 1:16.04
    2. Final – 1:14.05 (→ Qualified)

Women's 100 m Butterfly

  • Svetlana Koptchikova
    1. Heat – 1:01.65
    2. B-Final – 1:01.48 (→ 9th place)

Women's 200 m Butterfly

  • Svetlana Koptchikova
    1. Heat – 2:15.26
    2. B-Final – 2:14.43 (→ 12th place)

Women's 200 m Individual Medley

  • Yelena Dendeberova
    1. Heat – 2:15.30
    2. Final – 2:13.31 (→ Silver medal)
  • Yulia Bogatcheva
    1. Heat – 2:19.07
    2. B-Final – 2:19.91 (→ 15th place)

Women's 400 m Individual Medley

  • Yelena Dendeberova
    1. Heat – 4:46.63
    2. Final – 4:40.44 (→ 4th place)

Women's 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay

  • Inna Abramova, Svetlana Issakova, Yelena Dendeberova and Svetlana Koptchikova
    1. Heat – 3:46.28
  • Yelena Dendeberova, Svetlana Issakova, Natalia Trefilova and Svetlana Koptchikova
    1. Final – 3:44.99 (→ 5th place)

Synchronized swimming

Three synchronized swimmers represented the Soviet Union in 1988.

Women's solo
  • Christina Thalassinidou
  • Mariya Chernyayeva
  • Tatyana Titova
Women's duet
  • Mariya Chernyayeva
  • Tatyana Titova

Table tennis

Tennis

Men's Singles Competition

  • Alexander Volkov
    1. First round — Lost to Carl-Uwe Steeb (West Germany) 5–7 4–6 3–6

Women's Singles Competition

  • Larisa Neiland
    1. First Round – Bye
    2. Second Round – Defeated Sara Gomer (Great Britain) 6–7 7–6 9–7
    3. Third Round – Defeated Il-Soon Kim (South Korea) 6–3 7–6
    4. Quarterfinals – Lost to Steffi Graf (West Germany) 2–6 6–4 3–6
  • Leila Meskhi
    1. First Round – Defeated Regina Rajchrtová (Czechoslovakia) 7–5 7–5
    2. Second Round – Lost to Steffi Graf (West Germany) 5–7 1–6
  • Natasha Zvereva
    1. First Round – Bye
    2. Second Round – Defeated Anne Minter (Australia) 6–4 3–6 6–1
    3. Third Round – Defeated Tine Scheuer-Larsen (Denmark) 6–1 6–2
    4. Quarterfinals – Lost to Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina) 4–6 3–6

Volleyball

Men's tournament

  • Preliminary round (group A)
  • Defeated Bulgaria (3–0)
  • Defeated Sweden (3–0)
  • Defeated South Korea (3–0)
  • Defeated Italy (3–1)
  • Lost to Brazil (2–3)
  • Semi Finals
  • Defeated Argentina (3–0)
  • Final
  • Lost to the United States (1–3) → Silver medal
  • Team roster
  • Yuri Panchenko
  • Andrei Kuzentsov
  • Vyatcheslav Zaytsev
  • Igor Runov
  • Vladimir Chkourikhine
  • Yevgueny Krasilnikov
  • Raimond Vilde
  • Valery Lossev
  • Yuri Sapega
  • Oleksandr Sorokalet
  • Yaroslav Antonov
  • Yuri Tcherednik
  • Head coach: Guennady Parchine

Women's tournament

  • Preliminary round (group A)
  • Lost to Japan (2–3)
  • Defeated South Korea (3–2)
  • Defeated East Germany (3–0)
  • Semi Finals
  • Defeated PR China (3–0)
  • Final
  • Defeated Peru (3–2) → Gold medal
  • Team roster
  • Valentina Ogienko
  • Yelena Volkova
  • Irina Smirnova-Ilchenko
  • Tatyana Sidorenko
  • Irina Parkhomchuk-Kirillova
  • Olga Shkournova
  • Marina Nikulina
  • Elena Ovtchnikova
  • Olga Krivocheeva
  • Svetlana Korytova
  • Marina Koumych
  • Tatyana Krainova
  • Head coach: Nikolai Karpol

Water polo

Men's tournament

  • Preliminary round (group A)
  • Drew with Italy (9–9)
  • Defeated Australia (11–4)
  • Defeated France (14–8)
  • Defeated South Korea (17–4)
  • Lost to West Germany (8–9)
  • Semi Finals
  • Lost to United States (7–8)
  • Bronze medal match
  • Defeated West Germany (14–13) → Bronze medal
  • Team roster
  • Evgueni Charonov
  • Nourlan Mendygaliev
  • Evgeni Grichine
  • Alexandre Kolotov
  • Sergei Naoumov
  • Victor Berendiouga
  • Serguei Kotenko
  • Dmitri Apanasenko
  • Georgui Mchvenieradze
  • Mikhail Ivanov
  • Serguei Markotch
  • Nikolai Smirnov
  • Mikhail Giorgadze
  • Head coach: Boris Popov

Weightlifting

Wrestling

Men's freestyle

  • Alexander Karelin — Wrestling, Heavyweight

Medals by republic

In the following table for team events number of team representatives, who received medals are counted, not "one medal for all the team", as usual. Because there were people from different republics in one team.

See also

  • Soviet Union at the 1988 Summer Paralympics

References


1988 Winter Olympics Hockey Champions USSR / Soviet Union Team

Jugoslávie 1988

1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul IMAGO

1988 Summer Olympics Stock Photos & 1988 Summer Olympics Stock Images

Seoul Summer Olympics opening ceremonies September 17, 1988 in Seoul