How Putin's Olympic dream turned into a bitter nightmare

The Friendship Games, Vladimir Putin's proposed alternative to the Olympic Games, hit an unexpected roadblock, as organizers announced their indefinite suspension. The ambitious event, intended to rival the global sporting spectacle, looks to be all but shelved by the Russian President.

The competition, a brainchild of the Kremlin, aimed to reinstate the right of Russian athletes to compete on the international stage.

It's important to remember that one of the first sanctions imposed on Russia after the start of the war against Ukraine was to exclude most of its athletes from international competitions.

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It's a ban that obviously remains in force, though its athletes are free to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes, if they meet the strict IOC criteria, as the New York Times reported.

Russia had initially planned to host the competition across Moscow and Yekaterinburg. However, the International Friendship Association ultimately suspended the event, citing "consultations with several athletes and international federations" as the reason for the decision, according to their official statement.

According to The Moscow Times, the primary reason many athletes declined to participate was the fear of potential sanctions, as the competition was not sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Three months later, a presidential decree published on Russia’s state legal information portal officially announced the cancellation of the Friendship Games – a competition that never took place and, for now, seems unlikely to ever happen.

Or maybe it will: Putin's decree, published on an official website, left open the possibility of staging the games at some point pending a "special decision of the president", as Reuters reported.

The organizers expected around 5,500 athletes to participate in the 20 Olympic disciplines they had prepared for this first edition.

The reality was quite different, and support for the initiative was even lower, despite Vladimir Putin's promise to distribute 4.6 billion rubles (approximately $50 million USD/£39 million/€47 million) among the participants.

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