Own Games
Athletes from dozens of countries came to the BRICS Games Photo: RIA Novosti
Russia, like no other country, knows how to organize large sports forums at the highest level. It’s a pity that over the past couple of years it has not been possible to demonstrate this superpower for obvious reasons. However, the forced downtime had no effect. The long-awaited BRICS Games, held last summer, showed this. In conditions of isolation, it was possible to hold truly large-scale competitions. 4.5 thousand participants from 86 countries, 27 sports at 17 facilities. It is difficult not to agree with the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Mikhail Degtyarev that it was in Russia that the BRICS Games reached a completely new level.
Of course, these were not the Olympic Games. However, replacing the Olympics was not the goal. The organizers have repeated more than once: the BRICS Games are designed to show that competition formats are possible, free from political and any other discrimination. Many of our athletes, deprived of the right to compete for medals at international competitions, finally remembered what it was like to fight with athletes from other countries. Yes, not all the strongest came to Kazan, but for the organizers this is also an experience that will definitely come in handy in the future, when the time comes for other sports forums.
Beautiful “fury”
Nobody believed in the young Spanish national team of Luis de la Fuente, but they not only won the title, but also showed the most spectacular football at the Euro. Photo: Getty Images
One of the main sporting events of the past year took place at the beginning of summer in Germany. We are talking about the European Championship, the winner of which was the Spanish team. The brilliant play of the “red fury” during the tournament left no one indifferent. Even the most ardent critics of Luis de la Fuente’s team admitted that the “red-yellows” rightfully won the title.
Spain became the first team in Euro history to win seven victories in seven meetings in regular time. A record for goals scored was also set (15). Finally, the “fury” became the leader in the number of Euro titles (4), ahead of a whole group of competitors.
The most striking mark in Germany was left by the young, 16-year-old at that time, Lamin Yamal. Many experts call the Barcelona midfielder almost the heir to Lionel Messi. Whether Yamal will be able to follow the Argentinean’s path is one of the main intrigues of world football.
From our suggestion
Our Paris silver medalists are only 37 years old in total. Photo: Getty Images
The Summer Olympics in Paris will be remembered as one of the most controversial in history. Questionable images at the opening ceremony, the dirty Seine in which triathletes were forced to swim – these and many other scandals will forever remain among the scandals by which the Paris 2024 Games will be remembered. We will remember the Paris forum for the minimum number of athletes (15) representing our country. Some athletes were deliberately deprived of the opportunity to come to France, others themselves did not want to put up with the offensive conditions imposed by the International Olympic Committee and compete under a neutral flag.
And still we were not left without medals. It is symbolic that 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 20-year-old Diana Schneider, the future of our sport, took silver in the tennis pair. At the Paralympics, our delegation was more representative (88 people), but also truncated. However, this did not stop the Russians from performing brilliantly: our para-athletes entered the top 10 both in terms of the number of gold medals (20) and the total number of medals (64).
Amplify the semi-heavy punch
Artur Beterbiev (right) has never had revenge in his career. Photo: Getty Images
There are many professional boxer champions in different versions in Russia. But there are only two absolute ones: Kostya Tszyu and Artur Beterbiev.
Beterbiev collected four light heavyweight belts in a highly anticipated bout with compatriot Dmitry Bivol in October in Riyadh. Arthur defended the WBC, IBF, WBO titles and took the WBA belt that belonged to Dmitry. True, he did not do it as effectively and efficiently as usual. The statistics of a 100% knockout player (20 out of 20 before the meeting with Bivol) were spoiled by a split decision of the judges. And besides, it’s also controversial. Bivol’s team even wanted to file a protest. The result of the fight cannot be disputed, but you can try to remove a negligent referee.
Revenge was definitely inevitable. And the date was set very quickly. The second series of the landmark confrontation for Russian and world boxing Bivol – Beterbiev will take place just five months later – on February 22, 2025, also in Saudi Arabia. One blow in this fight can decide a lot.
Behind his strong back
Miron Lifintsev dedicates his victories to his mentor Vladimir Sidorov, who recently passed away. Photo: Getty Images
Miron Lifintsev, at 18 years old – and this is still a junior age for sports – became the real leader of the Russian swimming team, which went to an international tournament for the first time in three years. Although still in a neutral status, but with the right to participate in the team event – relays, the Russians washed away all the skeptics from the side of the pool, winning six gold and four silver medals at the World Short Course Championships and taking second place in the team event after the Americans.
Ilya Borodin left Budapest with the 400m medley title. And five victories went to Lifintsev, who is called nothing less than a genius and the best backstroke swimmer of this season. Miron won the 50m and 100m backstroke with junior world records, and also helped his teammates win three relays. Our champions and prize-winners were not allowed to communicate with the media during the competition, but the Russians still had the last word at the tournament. Miron Lifintsev, Kirill Prigoda, Andrey Minakov and Egor Kornev won gold in the final 4×100 meter medley relay in a world record of 3.18.68 seconds.
Source: rg.ru
