August 11, 2024

Fine Then, We'll Host Our Own Olympics


Fine Then, We'll Host Our Own Olympics
The easiest gold ever. RIA Novosti

With the official Russian team precluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics (thanks to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine), Russia instead put its efforts towards this year's BRICs Games in June. With eyebrow-raising results.

The BRICs Games are an annual sporting meet with a similar vibe to the Olympics, but spotlight instead developing nations (like the BRICs), or those that we don't typically see at the world games, ranging from the isolated (North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba) to the Russia-allied (Belarus) to the internationally unrecognized (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Republic of Srpska). Russia chairs the games and hosted them in Kazan this year.

Russia, Brazil, and China sent the largest athletic delegations.

Events ranged from the expected, like swimming, fencing, gymnastics, and track, to the local, like Eurasian folk wrestling and Chinese martial arts, and the quasi-athletic, like chess. Not all events were well represented, resulting in Gogol-esque moments like the above photo, where a single artistic swimming competitor took home gold against no rivals.

Indeed, of the 2,970 participants, 1,276 medals were awarded: a rate five times higher than at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Most notably, nearly 80% of Russian participants took home a medal.

Surely the viewership of the BRICs games would be higher if they included tank ballet.

You Might Also Like

We'll Swim After Victory
  • October 15, 2022

We'll Swim After Victory

Our correspondent was offered a business trip to Odesa, Ukraine. He took it and brought this back.
Trekking In Partisan Footsteps
  • May 01, 2011

Trekking In Partisan Footsteps

Eastern Crimea was a center for partisan activity during the Great Patriotic War. In honor of the May Day holiday, we trek through this wild realm along the Black Sea.
En Garde, Russia and Belarus
  • March 13, 2023

En Garde, Russia and Belarus

The International Fencing Federation greenlit the return of Russian and Belarussian fencers to tournaments — and the Olympics.
A Wall of Resistance
  • February 27, 2023

A Wall of Resistance

A Russian shopkeeper's picture went viral after using the walls of his shop to express opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955