Let's go. The 2024 edition of the BRICS Games begins this Wednesday, June 12 in Kazan. It should last until Sunday June 23. The multisport event, the organization of which in Russia was requested by Vladimir Putin himself in May 2023, brings together 27 sports, Olympic or not, including rhythmic gymnastics, fencing, artistic swimming, judo, badminton, karate, wrestling and sambo. It should bring together in Kazan athletes from the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), plus nearly a hundred other nations. But the Russian organizers, proud to be able to announce the presence of more than 90 foreign delegations, have been very discreet about the composition and sporting level of the selections entered. The BRICS Games are not a new thing in the international sports calendar. Their first edition was held in 2017 in Guangzhou, China. Since then, they have taken place more or less every year, according to a system of rotation in the country holding the presidency of the organization. But the 2024 edition, undoubtedly the most political of all due to Russia's isolation in the Olympic movement, is the first to which athletes from non-BRICS countries have been invited.
