The World Friendship Games (, ) was a planned international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

, was expected to be held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

, Russia from 15 to 29 September 2024. Unlike the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

, where athletes only compete for medals, athletes at the World Friendship Games would have been rewarded with monetary awards in addition to receiving medals. In July 2024, it was announced that the World Friendship Games would be postponed to an unknown date in 2025. In August 2024, the games were postponed again to either late 2025 or 2026. In December 2024, the games were put on hold indefinitely, with the possibility of the games being brought back by a "special decision of the president" (who is currently

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

History

As a result of an ongoing doping scandal and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been excluded from almost every sporting competition, and Russian athletes have been unable to use their national symbols at international sporting events, which also includes the Olympics, which have only allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 summer Olympics as

Individual Neutral Athletes Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) and Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) are a capacity under which athletes can compete at international sporting competitions without representing their nations, as is standard convention under the Olympic Charter. ...

. In response, the Russian government announced its intent to organize competitions for the country's top athletes with the possibility for other countries to participate. In May 2023, Russian Sports Minister

Oleg Matytsin Oleg Vasilyevich Matytsin (, born 19 May 1964) is a Russian professor and doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Education and Honoured Doctor of Beijing Sport University, serving as Member of State Duma and C ...

confirmed Russia will host the second edition of

Friendship Games The 1984 Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event held between 2 July and 16 September 1984 in the Soviet Union and eight other Eastern Bloc states which boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in ...

in 2024, shortly after the

Summer Olympics in Paris Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. The first edition was hosted by the Soviet Union in Moscow as a substitute for the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, which it

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict ...

. The Organizing Committee of the Games was formed in October 2023. In addition to winning medals, athletes will receive cash prizes. The total prize money offered amounts to 4.6 billion

Russian ruble The ruble or rouble (; Currency symbol, symbol: ₽; ISO 4217, ISO code: RUB) is the currency of the Russia, Russian Federation. Banknotes and coins are issued by the Central Bank of Russia, which is Russia's central bank, monetary authority ind ...

s (approximately US$49 million). On 2 July 2024, it was announced that the games will be postponed until 2025. In August 2024 the games were postponed for a second time to either late 2025 or 2026.

International reaction

On November 14, 2023, the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

, represented by James Macleod, director of relations with

National Olympic Committees A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

, made recommendations to the committees regarding possible participation in the competitions: The Organizing Committee of the 2024 World Friendship Games responded to the IOC statement, noting that the purpose of the upcoming Games was never either confrontation with the IOC or the creation of competitions in opposition to the Olympic movement. On November 21, 2023, the Games were discussed at a meeting of the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its 79th session, its powers, ...

. IOC president

Thomas Bach Thomas Bach (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former foil fencer, and Olympic gold medalist. He has served as the ninth president of the International Olympic Committee since 2013, the first ever Olympic champion to be elected to tha ...

said it was too early to talk about the consequences of the Games, but different options were being considered. Russian deputy permanent representative at the UN spoke about the inadmissibility of any discrimination against athletes at competitions and invited the world to the Friendship Games. In March 2024, IOC president Thomas Bach urged a boycott of Russia's planned 'Friendship Games' and labelled the event a "cynical attempt" by the country to "politicize sport": this caused the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman,

Maria Zakharova Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova (, ; born 24 December 1975) is a Russian politician who serves as the director of the information and press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federa ...

, to launch a personal attack on Bach, accusing him and the IOC of "slipping into racism and neo-Nazism".

Branding

Logo

The logo of the 2024 World Friendship Games was presented in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

as part of the Russia-Africa summit, which took place from 27 to 28 July 2023. The logo depicts two white hands clasped across a globe.

Mascot

The games mascot, a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

, named Dobryak was unveiled on 5 March 2024.

Venues

Moscow

Most of the sports programme, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, will take place in

Yekaterinburg

All competitions in

will be held at existing sports facilities; the construction of new facilities is not planned.

Participants

According to

Infobae Infobae is an international Argentine online newspaper. It was launched in 2002 by businessman Daniel Hadad, with the original headquarters in Buenos Aires. The company expanded globally with local editions in New York City, Mexico City, Miami ...

on 28 March 2024, Alexey Sorokin (the director general of the World Friendship Games Organizing Committee) claimed that athletes from "at least" 70 nations might participate. On 22 April 2024,

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

noted Russian media claims that 5,500 participants would take part in the 2024 World Friendship Games, compared to the maximum quota of 10,500 in Paris. At the time of postponement, the organizers claimed to have received applications from 2,500 athletes from 127 countries: however, Belarusian sports journalist Dmitri Navosha told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on 25 July 2024 that the postponement was "a sign" that the organizers were not attracting enough countries.

Sports

The sports programme will include 33 sports: Moscow: * Acrobatic rock 'n' roll *

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

Artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), ...

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Men, 3x3) *

Beach handball Beach handball is a team sport where two teams pass and bounce or roll a ball, trying to throw it in the goal of the opposing team. The game is similar to standard handball, but it is played on sand instead of on a solid floor. Because the ball ...

Beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or sand soccer, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand between two teams of five players each. Association football has long been played informally on ...

Beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

Break dancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly o ...

Canoe slalom Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a Spraydeck, decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on Whitewater, river rapids in the fastest time pos ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

Competitive programming Competitive programming or sport programming is a mind sport involving participants trying to program according to provided specifications. The contests are usually held over the Internet or a local network. Competitive programming is recogn ...

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

(High Diving) *

Equestrian sports Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

Fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

* Padel *

Rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), hoop, ball (rhythmic gymnastics), ball, Clubs (rhythmic gymnastics), clubs, ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics), ...

Sambo Sambo may refer to: Places * Sambo, Angola, a commune in Tchicala Tcholohanga, Huambo Province, Angola * Sambo Creek, a village in Honduras People * Ferdy Sambo (born 1973), former Indonesian police general * Khem Sambo (1961–2011), Cambodi ...

Skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

Sport climbing Sport climbing (or bolted climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing where the Lead climbing, lead climber clips their climbing rope, rope — via a quickdraw — into pre-drilled in-situ bolt (climbing), bolts for their ...

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

Triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

Weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

Yekaterinburg: *

Artistic swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aq ...

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

(Women) *

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

Jujutsu Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

In addition, mas-wrestling and

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

will be held as demonstration sports.

References

External links

Official website of the World Friendship Games
{{Olympic Games controversies Sports competitions Summer sports competitions Summer multi-sport events International sports competitions hosted by Russia Multi-sport events in Russia 2025 in Russian sport 2025 in multi-sport events