1 Rouble XXII Summer Olympic Games, Moscow 1980 - Olympic Flame

The Moscow 1980 Games were the first Summer Olympics held in a socialist country, and the Soviet government treated the coinage program as an exercise in soft power — producing an extensive series of commemorative roubles beginning in 1977, three years before the opening ceremony. The flame design was among the final releases in that series, issued in the months surrounding an event already overshadowed by the U.S.-led boycott, which ultimately kept athletes from 65 nations away.

Struck in large numbers for both circulation and the collector market, these roubles were widely distributed through Beryozka hard-currency shops as tourist souvenirs.