Authors

Lukas Aubin¹;  ¹ IRIS, France

Discussion

This paper examines the role of the Russian alternative sporting competitions organized by Russian authorities since the onset of Ukraine’s Invasion and the exclusion of Russia from the Olympics, through the case study of the Future Games and the BRICS Games. Since February 24, 2022, Russia has been excluded from the world's major sports competitions (Football World Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games, etc.). In response, the Russian authorities organize parallel sporting events in Russia: Games of the Future (February 21 - March 3, 2024), BRICS Games (June 12 - June 23, 2024), Friendship Games (2025). 

These events aim to compete with traditional sports bodies considered pro-Western and politicized in order to participate in the "de-Westernization" of the world through new sporting events while being at the forefront of building a new global sports model. As in the pre-Second World War’s Soviet Union, the current Russian regime is weaponizing sport to use it as an instrument to create it’s own sporting ecosystem. But, at the same time, as in the Soviet post-World War II period, the Russian regime is also seeking to reintegrate the traditional sports space. In between, it is developing an opportunistic sports policy. 

This strategy oscillates between the desire to reintegrate the major world sports competitions and the aspiration to create parallel ones. It aims to spread the Russian model, to divide the West and to bring together non-Western countries. This analysis proposes to use the Games of the Future and the BRICS Games as case studies to understand their roots, impact, narratives, representations, and geopolitical scope.