GENEVA — Facing a potential rival to Russia's hosting of the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday told sports and political leaders that the friendly games scheduled to begin in the weeks after the Paris Summer Olympics I asked them not to participate.
The IOC denounced the diplomatic move to push ahead with the first Games in September as a “cynical attempt by the Russian Federation” to bring politics into sport.
“The IOC urges all stakeholders in the Olympic Movement and all governments to refuse to participate in or support any efforts to fully politicize international sport.” This was stated in a statement released at the board meeting, which he chairs. IOC President Thomas Bach.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed that he would begin organizing summer and winter events under the Friendship Games banner with prizes worth tens of millions of dollars.
The tournament is aimed at countering the country's increasing isolation in international sports since the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as well as rising tensions with the IOC and Bach.
Four months ago, at the United Nations in New York, Russian diplomat Maria Zaborodskaya used the debate over the Olympic Truce in Paris to invite the world to a friendly and to criticize her country's commitment to “honest and fair competitions.” Cited support.
The first matches are scheduled for September in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, with a total prize pool of 4.6 billion rubles ($50 million), according to Russian media reports.
The Friendship Games aim to start within weeks of the August 11 closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, where the IOC will not pay prize money to medalists.
Russia has been excluded from all team competitions at the Olympics, and individual athletes have been forced to negotiate with governing bodies and the IOC to gain neutrality, allowing them to compete without wearing national symbols such as the national flag, national anthem, or red uniform. Applicants must pass a two-stage screening process. white and blue.
Sports officials said in private conversations that the number of Russian athletes competing as a neutral country in Paris could be around 25 to 50.
According to reports, one of the aims of the Friendship Games is to create an international competition for Russian players and teams whose careers have been stalled by the war in Ukraine.
It is unclear which countries have committed to sending teams to Russia in September or whether sports officials are involved in the process.
The IOC warned on Tuesday that outdoor athletes could be “forced to participate by governments and thereby used as part of political propaganda campaigns.”
