Vladimir Kirilov, international columnist

Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which is now in its second year, has become a kind of catalyst that has accelerated and exposed the crisis phenomena of the modern world order. The inadequate reaction of the West, allegedly exclusively to the NWO, affected all areas of human life – from politics, economics, finance and diplomacy to the entire range of humanitarian issues, including culture and sports. The United States and its allies, as if having broken the chain, have spun the sanctions flywheel against Russia and Belarus to the maximum.

In the conditions of frenzied Russophobia, Western politicians assign an “honorable” place to sanctions in the field of sports. At the same time, if economic sanctions, especially in the energy sector, sometimes come up against objective factors that in a certain way restrain the “appetites” of Moscow’s enemies, then the situation is different with regard to sports – there are no restrictions.

It should be noted that sport occupies an important place in the current life of mankind. Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the modern Olympic Games at the end of the 19th century, would certainly have been amazed at the scale of sports mania that has gripped people in the 21st century. But very soon the famous Frenchman would have been deeply disappointed – his noble ideas failed, and the main Olympic law – sport outside of politics – ordered a long life.

Due to its cross-border nature, emotionality, entertainment, multiplied by modern media opportunities, sport has become a powerful tool for influencing the minds and moods of wide sections of society, which politicians and political technologists working for them did not fail to use. It didn’t happen today. In this regard, we can recall the stories of the boycotts of the Olympic Games in Moscow and Los Angeles that happened in the last century.

In the future, the politicization of sports only increased. Evidence of this is the “diplomatic” boycotts of the Olympics in Sochi and Beijing. The requirements for Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag and refuse to display state symbols were followed by new conditions – now public statements of a political nature condemning their country and the actions of its legitimate authorities will be a pass to the competition. The IOC recommended that federations and tournament organizers not invite or allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in them “in order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and the safety of all participants.”

Thus, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that Russian sports are facing the prospect of a full-scale “Iron Curtain”. There will also be problems for the countries that support Russia in the international arena. But is it really worth killing yourself over this? What is this big sport now?

It’s no secret that Big Sport has turned into a gigantic profitable business, saturated through and through with the spirit of commerce, with all the ensuing consequences. Fair wrestling has given way to the rivalry of pharmacologists. Endless doping scandals have become a daily reality. Norwegian skiers with asthma, American gymnasts and tennis players with “amazing” figures have become the norm.

Degradation of sport is also facilitated by numerous cases of biased refereeing (remember, for example, the stories with Russian gymnasts and figure skaters at the last Olympics), which have signs of political orders. The gloomy picture of the “sports kingdom” is continued by gender innovations that bring complete confusion to the competitive principles.

In this regard, the desire of many countries to revive the ideas of Coubertin and return to sport its original essence becomes quite logical. At the same time, associations such as the SCO and BRICS could become platforms for revival. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal to create an Association of sports organizations of the SCO countries at the summit in Samarkand. According to the Russian side, the activities of the Association can be aimed at strengthening ties in the development of Olympic, non-Olympic, Paralympic and national sports and will contribute to the holding of sports competitions based on true partnership, the absence of any form of discrimination, respect for sports principles, out of touch with politics and sanctions restrictions. The reaction from the summit participants to the proposal of the Russian president was positive.

The first steps in this direction are already being taken. The Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Oleg Matytsin, at a meeting of heads of departments responsible for the development of physical culture and sports of the SCO member states, held in New Delhi in March, took the initiative to hold the First SCO Games in Russia in 2024.

In addition, at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, a project was presented for the first ever World Friendship Games, which are scheduled to be held next September in 27 sports. The games will be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg.

The biggest event of the sports winter 2024 in Russia will be the Games of the Future, which will be held in Kazan. The Games of the Future is a large-scale sporting event at the intersection of sports, science and technology, a synergy of classic and digital sports. International competitions will be held in 16 hybrid disciplines. Each of them embodies the concept of Phygital (physical + digital), that is, it combines physical culture and e-sports, which means that it tests the skills of athletes in two still unrelated dimensions.

In June 2024, it is planned to hold competitions in the format of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Russia. At the same time, the competitions will have an open status, and everyone will be able to take part in them, and not just the member states of the union. 22 kinds of sports are preliminary declared in the program of competitions. These may include national disciplines, one type from each country.

It should be noted that at all levels it is emphasized that all these starts are not an alternative to the Olympic movement in general and the Summer Olympics in Paris, in particular. This is done primarily to protect potential competitors from the sanctions of the vengeful IOC. However, as the ancient Olympians used to say, “sapienti sat” is enough for the one who understands.