By George Burns Oct 21, 2009, 5:09 GMT
Hamburg - After a gap of over two decades, Eastern Europe will once again become the focal point of a major international sporting event when Poland and Ukraine co-host Euro 2012 and Russia holds the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The collapse of communism in Europe at the end of the 1980s not only saw the collapse of a political system, it also signalled an end to regimes that typically made very intense use of sports performances and events as a PR instrument.
In the Eastern Bloc states and the Soviet Union, sports infrastructure and the organization of sports activities were regarded as being a concern of the state and a matter of the highest national importance.
From the early fifties until the late eighties - the highlight coming at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow - communist nations outperformed capitalist countries at the Olympics and at world championships as the greater investment in sports paid dividends.
Communist countries also reaped the international prestige that came with this success as well as improving the stability of the political system through the building of national identity and pride.
However, with the fall of communism and the years of economic turmoil that followed as the former Eastern Bloc countries made the transition to market economies, support for sport and national pride both took a knock.
Not surprisingly, when Russia eventually made its return to sport's top table by winning the right in 2007 to host the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, then President Vladimir Putin claimed the victory as an international endorsement of his country's economic resurgence.
'It is a recognition of our growing capability, first of all economically and socially,' said Putin.
Further evidence of Russia's recovery is Moscow's hosting of the 2008 Champions League final as well as the 2013 world athletics championships.
Russia has also put together a bid for the 2018 and 2022 football World Cup, which was unveiled earlier this month with the government pledging support and to invest heavily into the relevant regions.
Just like the world athletics championships, the World Cup has never taken place in eastern Europe, which 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall is more and more getting onto the world sport map.
While Russia is happy to use the Winter Olympics to restore dented national pride, former Soviet satellite states Poland and Ukraine are taking advantage of Euro 2012 to invest in sporting infrastructure through state finance that has been sadly lacking since the fall of communism.
Poland, which joined the European Union in 2004, enjoyed strong economic growth until the onset of the current global economic crisis and badly needs the estimated 24-billion-dollar investment that is required to bring its infrastructure up to scratch for Euro 2012.
However, initial concerns about the country's ability to host the event weren't tempered when, last month, Polands Sports Minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki quit over corruption claims.
At least Poland's four host cities were finally confirmed by UEFA in May, while Ukraine remains under pressure and has until the end of November to prove it can meet the required standards.
Ukraine has a lot riding on its ability to host Euro 2012 with the head of the country's football federation Hryhory Surkis believing potential membership of the EU or NATO would be put back by failure.
The country has accelerated its preparation effort substantially since UEFA head Michel Platini criticised Ukraine for its preparations and set the December deadline to meet its requirements.
Ukraine's usually chaotic government over the summer overcame traditional gridlock to approve a reported 700 million dollars of repairs to transportation and tourist industry infrastructure.
Your Talkback on this Story