 Sportsmen of the Russian Empire participated in the 1908 Olympics (5 members) and in the 1912 Olympics (174 members).In 1914 the Russian Empire had 1,200 sports unions involving some 45,000 participants out of some 332 cities and other settlements.After the October Revolution of late 1917 the state governing of the workers' physical training was assigned in 1918 to the Main Department of "Vsevobuch" (Universal Military Training) along with which was established in 1920 the (VSFK) ().