The article considers professionalization as a natural trend of the modern sport system and explores the evolution ot the professional athlete's social status for the period of 1988-2014. Special emphasis is made on the institutional aspects of a professional athlete training in the existing national educational system, and with this purpose a new Federal State Education Standard (FSES) is proposed to be developed and implemented. The existing amateur athletic training system is unable to do that. It is further emphasised that it is the educational establishments that will draft the new FSES based on the existing "Professional Athlete" Standard and apply it to put together the vocational education programs to shape up high professional standards in the athletes - all the more that their athletic activity has always been viewed as highly professional. It is noted that the modern sport education suffers from crisis as the actual demand of the sport sector is poorly satisfied by the supply from the training system. The study shows that an amateur athlete's fitness level gives no way for efficient cooperation with the coach in the training and competitive process for the lack of key professional athletic competences. An amateur athlete normally receives only primary athletic background from a Children's and Youth Sport School (CYSS) or Children's and Youth Olympic Reserve School (CYORS); and even national Olympic Reserve Colleges, Sport Excellence Schools and special physical culture institutes, academies and universities fail to give him/her the education necessary for a professional career.