Русский
The 2024 BRICS Games are to be held in Kazan, Russia from June 12-23, with 5,000 participants from 97 countries expected to participate, according to the BRICS Games Organizing Committee.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that “Russia chairs the BRICS in 2024, and this site has priority importance to our country under the current conditions. The BRICS Games, held on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, are an important component of our country’s BRICS chairmanship plan, and 97 countries have already confirmed participation.”
The Russian Sports Ministry has finalised the sports program on the orders of the Organizing Committee. The BRICS Games 2024 comprises 27 sporting events.
Comparisons are bound to be made with the 2024 Paris Olympics, which are due to be held from July 26-August 11. While the Olympics is a far larger event, with 10,500 athletes competing, the event has become politicized with significant restrictions placed on competing teams from Belarus and Russia, neither of which are allowed to participate in any team events nor under their national flag.
The BRICS games originally began from a 2016 football tournament that took place in Goa, India. It was then expanded to three sports in 2017, where in was held in Guangzhou, China. In 2028 it took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was then suspended due to Covid. An online version was held again in China in 2022, including events such as chess and dancing, while the 2023 BRICS games were held in Durban, South Africa and featured events in swimming, badminton, table tennis, tennis, and beach volleyball. The Kazan 2024 games has been significantly upgraded to 27 events and is the first to be held in Russia.
The event has significance for Russian athletes as many are barred from Olympics participation. It also allows the current BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, along with new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE to showcase the development of the BRICS bloc in a soft power sporting exercise to a further 88 participating countries. Many of the 88 other countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS group as an economic bloc, and most will send, along with athletes, low key government delegations to discuss the development of the bloc. The games form part of the lead-up to the annual BRICS Summit that will also be held in Kazan in October, and is likely to generate participational interest in the main economic development of the BRICS.
The effective exclusion of Russia, traditionally one of the strongest Olympic Games participants from the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the sanctions and restrictions placed upon Russia by the West has increased global political interest in what Russia and China term a ‘multi-polar’ global society – one not ruled exclusively by the United States. The 2024 BRICS Games therefore are an early key to what could yet develop into an alternative global event, especially as the previous Olympics alternative, games held by the British Commonwealth of Nations, have been discontinued due to lack of interest and soaring costs.
The 2024 Kazan BRICS games includes events in athletics, gymnastics, swimming, synchronised swimming, diving, kayaking, rowing, fencing, judo, sambo, ushu, karate, koresh, wrestling, belt wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, skateboarding, breakdancing, table tennis, badminton, tennis, basketball, football, horseriding and chess. Several of these events are not included in the standard Olympics. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded in each category.
The BRICS 2024 official website is here.
