Friendship Games 2024 an alternative stage for athletes from Russia and allies

As the world prepares for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, next year will see the World Friendship Games, an international multi-sport event hosted by Russia.

This event was created as a result of the ongoing ban on Russian athletes using their national symbols in international sporting competitions. The event was originally scheduled to take place in September, shortly after the Summer Olympics. It is seen as an alternative stage for athletes from Russia and its affiliated countries.

This is not the first time that this sporting event is organised. The first edition took place in 1984. Four decades later, this meeting will once again highlight the complex interaction between politics and sport.

What is the history of the Friendship Games?

This year marks the second edition of the Friendship Games. The first edition, commonly known as Friendship-84, was held in the Soviet Union and eight other Eastern Bloc countries.

It served as an alternative to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which were boycotted by these countries.

Although the organizers of the Friendship Games denied that they were a counter-Olympic event, they were often referred to as the alternative Olympic Games for the Soviet Union.

Friendship-84 included 22 Olympic events and three non-Olympic events, including table tennis, tennis and sambo wrestling. Athletes from about 50 countries participated.

Why is Russia planning to host the Games this time?

Athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus have been largely banned from major sporting competitions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago and ongoing doping scandals involving Russian sports authorities.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in December that Russian and Belarusian athletes will only be allowed to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris as neutral athletes, provided they meet the eligibility requirements.

Athletes from both countries are not allowed to use their national symbols, such as flags, anthems or emblems.

In response to these ongoing sanctions and restrictions, Russia announced last year that it plans to host the Friendship Games again in 2024, shortly after the Summer Olympics in Paris, offering its athletes an alternative platform to compete.

The winter edition is scheduled for 2026, the same year that the Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The edition will be held in Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Locations, programs and participants

The upcoming World Friendship Games will be held at 21 venues in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.

During the event, 36 sports will be practiced, divided over 208 disciplines. 283 medals will be awarded.

Most of the competitions will be held in Moscow, while events such as swimming, diving, artistic swimming, judo, jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, athletics and women's basketball will be held in Yekaterinburg.

Two other sports, sumo and mas wrestling, are also presented as demonstration sports during the Games.

According to Russia's state news agency Tass, some 5,500 athletes from at least 70 countries, including China, North Korea and Kazakhstan, are expected to take part.

The total prize money for the Games is 4.6 billion rubles ($52 million).

How has the international community responded to the Games so far?

Russia's decision to host the Games has sparked much controversy and criticism from international sports authorities.

In November, James Macleod, director of the National Olympic Committees (NOC) Relations Department, described the International Friendship Association, which will host the Friendship Games, as a political organisation funded by the Russian government.

He said the NOC's involvement in the Games would not only be contrary to the IOC's recommendation in 2022 that no international sporting events should be staged in Russia, but would also be contrary to the Olympic Movement's shared goal of preserving the independence and autonomy of sport.

The Friendship Games organizing committee responded in a statement to Tass that it never wanted to confront the IOC or organize competitions that went against the Olympic Movement.

For Russian athletes, who have been banned from major international competitions, the World Friendship Games will be the most important sporting event in recent years, it was said.

In March, the IOC issued a statement condemning the Games as a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sport.

The IOC further criticized the event as a flagrant violation of the Olympic Charter and a breach of various UN resolutions, and urged all governments to reject any participation in and support for any initiative that seeks to fully politicize international sport.