Toward the conclusion of the movie, when Drago is confronted by a Communist Party functionary, this fighter from the collectivist USSR screams at the top of his lungs, “I fight to win FOR ME!! FOR ME!!!” Drago wants to win, but not for the crowd, not for the nation, not for the communist party, not for the Politburo. He wants to win for himself. https://youtu.be/qHS_ntIvY4M In 2004, The Washington Times referenced Ivan in a comparison of the American–Soviet Olympic rivalry of the Cold War: “Nationalism makes the Olympics worth watching. Jingoism makes them worth caring about.” The Times’s Patrick Hruby noted that without an embodiment of the rivalry like Ivan Drago, the Olympics were not as fun!
