Brazil will not participate in Putin’s Friendship Games – 03/29/2024 – Sports

The president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), Paulo Wanderley Teixeira, revealed to Sheet this Friday (29) that the country will not participate in the Friendship Games, promoted by Vladimir Putin’s government in Russia to rival the Paris Olympic Games.

According to Teixeira, Brazil will follow the guidance of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to send a delegation to the event, scheduled to be held between September 15th and 29th in the cities of Moscow and Yekaterinburg.

On the other hand, the director added that there will be no prohibition on the possible individual participation of Brazilian athletes, if the rules of the respective sports allow it.

“We have to obey the Olympic Charter. We are not prohibiting it. Especially because it is a time outside the logic of preparing athletes, in a period after the Olympics”, declared the president of the COB.

Paulo Wanderley is in France to visit the country’s committee and facilities in the host city of the Olympic Games, scheduled for the period between July 26th and August 11th. The base of the Brazilian delegation will be the city of Saint-Ouen, around 45 minutes from the capital.

“I have no comment to make [sobre os Jogos da Amizade]whether it is something positive or not”, concluded the Brazilian leader.

Excluded from the Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine, Russia will have a quota of athletes who will be able to participate in the competition, under a neutral flag, but who will not be in the opening ceremony parade.

The IOC harshly criticized the Russian decision to hold the Friendship Games in reaction to the imposed sanctions, accusing the Putin government of “politicizing sport” by promoting the event through an “intense diplomatic offensive” and direct contacts with “governments from all over the world”.

In an official statement, the Olympic body asked the sporting world and governments invited by Moscow to “reject any participation and support” for the new event.

In response, Russia accused the entity of “discrimination”, “neo-Nazism” and “intimidation”.

“The IOC’s decisions are illegal, unfair and unacceptable. We are scandalized by the unprecedented discriminatory conditions imposed,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “These statements demonstrate the extent to which the IOC moves away from its principles and leans towards racism and neo-Nazism.”

With information from AFP (Agency France-Presse)