evidence: [7] Strands from these significant struggles came together to help give form to women’s gymnastics in the Soviet Union and in the development of a new Soviet "sports worker" which emerged from the Soviet Union’s inclusion in the Olympic Games from 1952. Against this backdrop, I will argue that elite female gymnasts performed labor for the Soviet regime that fell across three main categories. First, they were role models for domestic inspiration within the USSR; secondly, their images were used abroad as ambassadors of exemplary Soviet citizenry and sometimes as signals of Soviet foreign policy; and thirdly, they were later a resource by which much needed hard currency could be attained. [...] Cultural Cold Warriors [36] Three crucial factors coincided to determine the answers to these questions. The Soviet Union made its debut at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, the same Olympic Games where women gymnasts for the first time competed at an individual level as well as at team level. The Soviet women gymnasts performed impressively, winning three of the five available individual gold medals, as well as the gold medal for best team.