or1980v2pt1

In 1974, when it invited the Games
of the XXII Olympiad, Moscow already
had enough sports complexes and
installations to stage mass sports
events similar to the Olympic Games
in scope. The success of the finals of
the USSR Summer Spartakiade, of the
1973 World Summer Student Games,
World and European championships,
of major international meets in various
sports, as mentioned above, had repeatedly
attested to thus. Furthermore,
the Master Plan for the Development
of Moscow, adopted in June,
1971, provided for a considerable increase
in the number of the city's
sports facilities by 1990.
The award of the 1980 Olympic
Games to Moscow accelerated the
construction of many sports complexes
and individual installations already
planned.
It should be noted that it did not
reduce the scope of housing, recreational
and utility construction. On the
contrary, the 1980 Olympics accelerated
the construction of some big
modern hotel complexes and individual
hotels. The infrastructure of the city
was further improved and developed.
New roads, communications lines and
facilities, public catering outlets and
other structures had been built in the
capital by 1980.
Similar undertakings had been carried
out in Tallinn, which hosted the
Olympic Regatta, and in Leningrad,
Kiev and Minsk, where matches of the
Olympic football tournament were
held.
In order to shape a more harmonious
urban development pattern and to
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ensure equal living conditions in all
city areas, the Master Plan divided
Moscow into eight planning zones,
each of which was to have a recreational
and social centre of its own.
The centres include, among other
things, sports facilities designed to
promote the physical education
among local residents.
In view of the Games, it was
decided to set up Olympic sports
centres by 1979 and 1980 in the six
planning zones, making the maximum
use of existing facilities. New construction
was carried out with as great
economy of funds as possible and
bearing in mind that efficient utilisation
of the installations after the
Games should be ensured.
The main Olympic centre was set
up in the central planning zone and
consisted of existing facilities, though
modernised and renovated, and some
new ones at the Central Lenin
Stadium in Luzhniki. The remaining
five were: in the northern planning
zone—in the vicinity of Mir Avenue; in
the northwestern—near Leningrad Avenue
and in the Khimki-Khovrino area;
in the western—in Krylatskoye; in the
eastern—in the Sokolniki-lzmailovo
area; and in the southern—on the
edge of the Bitza Woodland Park. In
addition, the Dynamo Shooting Range
which is located in Moscow's green
belt in Mytishchi, 47 kilometres away
from the Olympic Village, had been
modernised and renovated.
These centres constituted the basis
for holding the Olympic Games.
This zoning of the Olympic construction
was dictated by the main
Members of the USSR
Government headed by Leonid
Brezhnev, Chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR, visiting the
Olympic facilities. At the
Olympic Village