(Lausanne) The International Olympic Committee accused Russia on Tuesday of “politicizing sport” by launching its “Friendship Games” from next September, a new competition competing with the Olympic Games which also plans a winter edition.
The IOC, which authorizes the participation of Russian athletes in the next Paris 2024 Olympics only under a neutral banner and on condition that they have not supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, asks the sporting world and the invited governments by Moscow “to reject any participation and support” in this event, he said in a statement.
Announced several months ago, the first edition of the “Summer Friendship Games” should “a priori be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg” next September, recalls the organization based in Lausanne, while the “Summer Friendship Games” winter friendship” are planned for 2026 in Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Olympic Games.
These two initiatives are in addition to the Games of the Future organized in Kazan from February 21 to March 3, mixing traditional disciplines and e-sport, and to the “BRICS Games” scheduled in the same city from June 12 to 23, and which must welcome “athletes from more than 50 countries”, according to Russian authorities.
The IOC does not blame the Russians for creating multi-sport competitions outside its aegis – since several already exist, including the Commonwealth Games or the Francophonie Games – but for doing so via “a very sustained diplomatic offensive” , through direct contacts with “governments around the world”.
“In order to make their purely political motivation even more obvious, the latter deliberately bypass the sports organizations of their target countries”, underlines the body, which sees a “cynical attempt” to exploit the athletes “for the purposes of political propaganda », in violation of the Olympic Charter.
Furthermore, the IOC accuses Moscow of “a total lack of respect for global anti-doping standards and the integrity of competitions”, recalling the concerns expressed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) about the Games. friendship, in view of the institutionalized cheating put in place by the Russian authorities during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.
“This position is reinforced by the fact that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency is currently not compliant” with the World Anti-Doping Code, “there are currently no WADA-approved laboratories in Russia and overall confidence in the system Russian anti-doping remains weak,” adds the organization.