A few days after the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee, Russia reiterated its plans to re-launch the multisport friendship games next year.
BREAKING: The International Olympic Committee Executive Board has with immediate effect suspended the Russian Olympic Committee of it’s membership of the IOC. pic.twitter.com/vPMBNFm1NL
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 12, 2023
Russia and Olympics’ situation right now can be summed up in the words of the great humorist, Mark Twain, who once said, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
The boycott gives birth to Friendship Games
The first Friendship Games were born as a result of Russia’s vehement protest against the host of the Summer Olympics in 1984, the United States.
In 1980, the US boycotted the Olympics that were held in Moscow.
And as a response to their actions, the Russians likewise did the same in 1984, announcing that they would not take part in the Games due to ‘inadequate’ security for their athletes, although speculations arose that their perception that the Games were being exploited politically was really the main reason.
“It is known from the very first days of preparations for the present Olympics the American administration has sought to set course at using the Games for its political aims. Chauvinistic sentiments and anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in this country,” the Soviet Government stated, as per History.
Around fifty states participated in the Friendship Games from July to September of that year, including eight other socialist states that also skipped the Olympics. The Games were infamously referred to as the “alternative Olympics,” despite the officials’ strenuous denials that they were a “counter-Olympic” event to avoid conflicts with the IOC.
“We hope that ‘friendship’ competitions will show to the world at large anew the strength of athletes from socialist countries and their loyalty to the Olympic ideals, ” former pole vaulter Sergey Bubka said in an interview with TASS, Russia’s official press agency.
Friendship Games in 2024
Now, after a string of issues with the IOC, Russia has once again found itself in the same spot as it did forty years ago: outside the Olympics.
This started when the Russians, with the help of Belarusians, invaded Ukraine, instigating a war that cost thousands of innocent lives, including Ukranian coaches and athletes. Following the tragedy, the IOC banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in any Olympic qualifiers unless they competed under a neutral flag.
Oleg Matytsin, Russia’s Sports Minister, stated that they had proposed plans for relaunching the World Friendship Games, an event where their athletes could compete without restrictions.
“We propose to intensify the practice of holding competitions in an open format with the invitation of partner countries,” Matytsin said, according to Reuters. “We continue to fulfill your (Putin’s) instruction to organise the World Friendship Games in the autumn of 2024.”
He continued by saying that going forward, the Games would be held on a regular basis, elaborating, “we consider it necessary to use the resources of both Russian and international public and state organisations to the maximum for the successful holding of the Games, which should be held on a regular basis in the future.”
Russia has come up with an alternative to the Olympics to hold next year – World Friendship Games. It plans to invite Ukrainian athletes as well.
Russia will spend 8.3 billion rubles (approx. $90 million) on an analog of the Olympics as it is denied access there.
This idea is… pic.twitter.com/sG5DywSkBn
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 1, 2023
Russia and IOC are in conflict
The Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on October 12 ‘with immediate effect until further notice’ as a result of their inclusion of the Ukrainian districts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk in their Olympic councils.
The International Boxing Association’s Russian president, Umar Kremlev, and the Games Chiefs were also reportedly at odds earlier this year, according to reports.
In addition, the IOC removed the IBA from its position as the combat sport’s governing body in June of this year due to its dubious management and financial practices. As a result, any decisions involving the boxing competition taking place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics were put “on hold.”
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