By Frank Dalleres
The International Olympic Committee has accused Russia of making “a cynical attempt to politicise sport” by organising rival competition the Friendship Games.
Russia is trying to rally support for its alternative to Paris 2024 in response to its ongoing ban from the Olympic Games for trying to annex Ukraine and its sporting bodies.
The first Friendship Games is planned to take place in September, just weeks after this summer’s Olympics, with a winter version scheduled for 2026.
“For this purpose, the Russian government has launched a very intensive diplomatic offensive by having government delegations and ambassadors, as well as ministerial and other governmental authorities, approaching governments around the world,” the IOC said.
“To make their purely political motivation even more obvious, they are deliberately circumventing the sports organisations in their target countries. This is a blatant violation of the Olympic Charter and an infringement of the various UN resolutions at the same time.
“It is a cynical attempt by the Russian Federation to politicise sport. The IOC Athletes’ Commission, representing all the Olympic athletes of the world, clearly opposes using athletes for political propaganda.
“The Olympic Movement strongly condemns any initiative to fully politicise sport, in particular the establishment of fully politicised sports events by the Russian government.
“The IOC strongly urges all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement and all governments to reject any participation in, and support of, any initiative that intends to fully politicise international sport.”
Russia could attempt to lean on political allies such as China, India and former Soviet republics in a bid to boost participation in the Friendship Games.
The country will not have a team at Paris 2024 due to its Olympic Committee’s ongoing ban, but Russian athletes may be allowed to compete as neutrals.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has also raised concerns that the Friendship Games will take place without adequate anti-doping controls. Russia’s anti-doping agency and testing laboratory are currently deemed non-compliant by Wada.
The IOC said Russia “shows total disrespect for the global anti-doping standards and the integrity of competitions”.
It added: “This is the very same government which was implicated in the systemic doping programme at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 and, later, the manipulation of anti-doping data.”
