The article is devoted to the analysis of the visual image of the Soviet athlete in the interwar period. In the visual propaganda of the era, the image of the Soviet athlete became a symbol of the success of the Soviet political project. At the same time, the official picture often contrasted with the real state of affairs. To analyze this difference, the authors turned to two groups of sources. The first group was made up of various visual sources depicting athletes, sports parades, competitions, training sessions and other components of the early Soviet sports routine. These include photographs, films, posters, sculpture and painting. The second group of sources mainly includes archival materials that enable reconstructing the real situation hidden behind the façade of the official picture. The researchers used the capabilities of the new social history, which studies the system of hierarchically interconnected social positions and the roles assigned by society to those occupying these positions. The specificity of the sources predetermined the methodological approaches of visual history and visual anthropology. The authors made the conclusion that lack of funding, gender bias and administrative failures led to the situation that not only in everyday practice, but also at high level events, athletes lacked basic sportswear such as T-shirts, shoes, etc. Visual sources of that time provide a distorted image, which should be taken into account when studying the problems of the early Soviet physical culture and sports.