Petr Korolev is a metallurgical engineer and a runner member of the Soviet Union Olympic team. Thanks to his perseverance and willpower, he earned the right to participate in international competitions in athletics.
During his preparation for the Moscow Olympic Games, an unforeseen event during a race caused his rival, a world record holder in long distance running Rolf Schmidt to leave the race. When realizing the accident, Korolev also leaves and helps Schmidt to get up. From that behavior is born his friendship with the rival runner.
Korolev's consecration takes place right at the Olympic Games in Moscow, where he gets the gold medal, beating his world-record friend.
This play is one of the repertory plays of Russian theater – in the first year of production (1878) it was on the stage of seventy provincial theaters. The main interest of the audience was the triangular relationship conceived according to the plot as the basis of a dramatic intrigue.
