2023-09-23 12:00:24
High-level sport and its major events are eminently political. The latest materialization to date of this evidence, the member countries of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) announced at the end of August 2023, at the end of their meeting held in South Africa, the organization of a global sporting event, the BRICS Games, a sort of Olympic Games for emerging powers.
After a first announcement, in May 2023, from President Vladimir Putin, who had asked his government, and in particular his Minister of Sports, Oleg Matytsin, to submit proposals for the organization of an international sporting event, it is well Russia which will organize these 2024 Brics Games, from June 20 to 23, 2024 in Kazan, one month before the 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
Both in its form and in its content, this new meeting of the international sports calendar can be seen as a very political response from the BRICS to the fact that due to the war in Ukraine, Russia was prohibited from line up for the 2024 Olympic Games. A Russian federation excluded from the Games following its refusal to participate under a neutral flag (Belarus is in the same situation), while Ukraine was authorized to participate in the event in its colors.
The Coubertin spirit dead and buried?
It is not only the five founding countries of the BRICS (in 2011) which will participate in these “OlymBrics” Games, but all those who have expressed their desire to join the organization, i.e. around fifty nations and around 4,500 athletes, who should compete in 25 disciplines.
Within the International Olympic Committee (IOC), only 35 countries refused the participation of the Russian Federation in the Olympic Games. Note that 171 countries were not against and that 82 of them had even accepted the principle of Russia’s participation under its colors and with its national anthem.
There was a time, very distant (and ultimately quite short) when, imbued with the philosophy of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, tireless promoter of the modern Games, global sporting events had a sacred side and materialized the idea of an international truce. imposing on humanity so that peace reigns over the world in times of trials.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, renovator of the Olympic Games – credits: Nicolas Jeanneau
Let us also remember the 1986 Football World Cup which took place in Mexico four years after the Falklands War, an armed conflict between England and Argentina following Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands ( this war, which began on April 2, 1982, lasted only 74 days and ended following the Argentine surrender). This armed opposition did not prevent (well done FIFA) that England and Argentina participated in the competition under their colors and that their respective anthems were played before the matches.
Hand of God and “Goal of the Century”
Better still, the two selections found themselves face to face on June 22, 1986 in the quarter-final of the competition without the slightest diplomatic incident. The famous “hand of God”* will certainly have caused a lot of ink to flow (it still does in fact). But sportingly, the event remains memorable, magnified by one of the most beautiful goals in the history of football, for some the “Goal of the Century”, the work of that brilliant devil that was Diego Armando Maradona who slalomed for around fifty meters in the middle of the English defense, dribbling past five defenders, before going past goalkeeper Peter Shilton. Victory goal which was completely normal for him.
As is protocol, just before the match, the captains of the two selections exchanged pennants and shook hands. And even though the meeting was “contested” (at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City) under a blazing sun, the players never came to blows (with the exception of the goalkeepers… and Maradona!). The meeting certainly took place in a very tense climate, but there was no violence on the pitch, in the stands or outside the stadium…
We are not going to redo the history of this legendary match. But let’s not forget that the English were also crowned world champions in 1966 (against the Federal Republic of Germany of “Kaiser” Franz Beckenbauer) thanks to a more than contentious goal from Geoff Hurst awarded by the referee , when the ball had not completely crossed the goal line.
As the proverb rightly says: “There is no man so blind as he who does not want to see.”
* Formula used by Diego Maradona, the Argentine captain after the victory of his Albiceleste 2 to 1, to explain the fact that his goal was awarded even though he had scored with his hand, which everyone ended up seeing except ‘arbitrator. It must be said that at the time, the use of video did not exist…
#OlymBrics #Games #FranceEvening