The Friendship Games have been officially postponed
The World Friendship Games to be held in Russia have been postponed to 2025. President of the Russian Weightlifting Federation (FTAR) Maxim Agapitov announced this at a press conference in Novosibirsk.
“Friendly Games were planned. I know that officially these Games have been postponed until next year,” Agapitov said.
At the moment, no official information has been confirmed about the postponement of the Friendship Games. At the beginning of June, the general director of the competition organizing committee, Alexey Sorokin, said that details would be revealed in the near future, and a month later he left his post, emphasizing that he was not leaving the project, but intended to focus on its international dimension.
“Championship” Citing the Sverdlovsk Region Athletics Federation, he reported that the Games should be held in August 2025. Meanwhile Official website There is no information or hint that the competitions will be postponed.
At the end of February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called on international sports federations to recommend that Russian and Belarusian athletes not be allowed to participate in any competitions. The organization decided to accept Russians and Belarusians as neutral athletes at the 2024 Olympic Games at the end of 2023. To participate, they had to meet a number of conditions and qualify.
As an alternative, Russia has created the Friendship Games format. The first Friendship Games are scheduled to be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg from 15 to 29 September 2024. The initiator and coordinator of the Friendship Games is the International Friendship Association (IFA).
IOC reaction
The IOC reacted negatively to the upcoming competitions and published Official statement. In the text of the document, the organization stated that Russia is trying to politicize sports by organizing these competitions. The IOC called on the international sports community to ignore them.
“In violation of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter and UN General Assembly resolutions, the Russian government is planning to hold a politically motivated sports event. To this end, the Russian government has launched an intense diplomatic offensive, inviting government delegations and ambassadors from countries around the world, as well as ministries and other government bodies. They are deliberately bypassing sports organizations in the countries they target to further highlight their political motivations.
“This is a clear violation of the Olympic Charter and also a violation of various UN resolutions. This is a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicize sports.”
– said in the statement.
Olympic speed skating champion and State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova told socialbites.ca that the IOC’s reaction showed the “true face” of the organization, and therefore it was worth asserting until the last minute that the Friendship Games would be held as originally planned. She also noted that the postponement of the competition seemed justified to her, since elite foreign athletes would not be ready for new tournaments immediately after the Paris Olympics.
“Initially, these competitions were not included in the four-year plan; the Olympics were included in the plan. At the same time, there was a situation where the Olympics were delayed for five years due to the pandemic.
Many men who did not go to the Olympics received compensation from the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), so they have financial support. But we wanted the Friendly Games to be a large-scale international competition. Now evil tongues will say: they are moving because no one will come. That is not the reason.
First, the IOC had to show its face: they started threatening athletes, imposing sanctions and disqualifications, and started calling different countries.
“We announced until the last moment that the Friendly Games would be held, and that brought the IOC into the spotlight. And other countries also did not understand the IOC’s position: is it necessary to call everyone and try to dissuade them from participating by using threats? I believe that it was very correct not to announce the postponement of the competition until recently,” Zhurova said.
“Postponement of the Friendly Games is justified”
The MP stressed that athletes who successfully performed at the Olympics actively participated in the events in the first months, met with fans, gave interviews, and did not have time and energy to train. Therefore, they will not be ready to compete on equal terms with Russian athletes who are undergoing central training at the Friendship Games.
“But coming to us a year later as Olympic champions is a completely different matter. Everyone will be ready and it will be a different competition, different setups. So I think it is objective.
We would like to see Olympic champions in Paris. Imagine if the Chinese athletes did not come for the reason we mentioned above. It will be said that China is no longer our friend, and the West will start making populist statements.
Although everyone understands perfectly well what the status of Olympic champions means for Chinese athletes. Therefore, it is not worth creating false background. Therefore, the postponement of the Friendly Games will be considered justified,” Zhurova concluded.