‘Hosting the Games in Tatarstan is a great trust’: BRICS tournament closes in Kazan

“BRICS Games have shown that Russia's isolation does not exist”

Tatarstan has once again proved that the organisation of international starts of any scale is its strong point. 11 days of BRICS Games competitions in 27 sports are behind. Kazan hosted over 4,600 guests from 86 countries, organised and held competitions at 17 sports venues — an unprecedented scale for this tournament. It will not be easy for the next host of the Games, Brazil, to take this bar. However, it was not easy for the republic either:

“Hand on heart, there were many difficulties, despite our extensive experience in conducting competitions," admitted Minister of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan Vladimir Leonov, summing up the results of the Games. “The project that we made was completely new, in a new format. Such competitions have not been held within the framework of BRICS yet, we have set the bar high. Many athletes compare the level of training with the Olympic level. I think this format has a great future.

By the way, many experts noted the organisation of the tournament. For example, Minister of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan Yermek Marzhikpayev, in an interview with Sport Express, highly appreciated the role of Tatarstan in hosting the Games: “I like the format of the BRICS Games, it is unique and necessary. As the minister of sports, I am for any sporting events. If it is held at this level, it unites.”

“No matter what anyone says, the BRICS Games have shown that Russia's isolation does not exist," Alexander Tkachev, the executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, told TASS. "16 countries participated in the chess tournament. Not only representatives of the countries of the former Soviet Union came to us, but also chess players from India, China, and African athletes. This is a great test of your strength, and the more such competitions there are, the better.”

The BRICS Games in Kazan attracted a lot of attention and, according to Vladimir Leonov, gathered an “incredible number” of spectators, the average load of sports complexes was 82%, and “there was an overload at the finals”. At the same time, media support was well organised, and the competitions had a large number of views on television.

“Our national team has actively shown itself in its native hospitable land in Kazan”

387 sets of medals were awarded at the BRICS Games in Kazan, and the Russian national team became the early winner of the medal standings. Our country has 502 medals, of which 264 are gold, 142 silver, and 101 bronze. Belarus is the second in terms of the number of gold awards (55), China is the third (20).

Our athletes have distinguished themselves in all kinds of sports. The Russian national football team became the champion of the BRICS Games, and this was at Euro 2024. Eight gold medals each for Russian swimmers and boxers, four more — for judoists, three each — for rowers and fencers. In the most exotic sport — Tatar koresh wrestling — our athletes won 10 out of 10 gold medals. How it was — read in our material. In belt wrestling, which was a separate discipline, the Russians won two more gold medals.

“Russia has offered the sports world a new format of interaction, the BRICS interstate platform," said Oleg Matytsin, an external adviser to the prime minister of the Russian Federation and former minister of sports. “Our national team has actively shown itself in its native hospitable land in Kazan, in Tatarstan. We expected such performance and set one of the tasks to give our athletes the opportunity to participate in international competitions with worthy rivals. We did it, there was competition in almost all sports, the main thing is that there is competition within the Russian team, which once again underlines and shows our potential.

Tatarstan even surpassed athletes from China by the number of gold won — 36 awards. They have 14 more silver and 7 bronze medals in their collection, a total of 41 medals for 42 athletes. Nikita Shleikher (diving), Sofia Dyakova (swimming), Agnia Tulupova (synchronised swimming), Artyom Kosov (rowing), Marta Martianova (fencing), Daniel Marinov (artistic gymnastics), Polina Kudermetova (tennis), Evgenia Kosetskaya (badminton), Vladislav Artemyev (chess) distinguished themselves among the athletes of the Tatarstan national team. Some have several top awards — for example, Shleikher and Tulupova have three gold medals each. Artemyev won three gold and one silver medal, Marinov won two gold medals, two silver and one bronze.

As prize money, athletes can receive federal payments of about 360 thousand rubles, it was previously reported with reference to a draft resolution prepared by the Ministry of Sports of Russia, published on the portal of draft regulatory legal acts. Perhaps, Tatarstan participants of the tournament will receive monetary incentives from the republic.

“Kazan has received such tasks before, thanks to all participants!”

Yesterday, Tatarstan winners of the BRICS Games were honoured in the Kazan Kremlin by the rais of Tatarstan. At the closing ceremony of the tournament at the Sabantuy site, Rustam Minnikhanov thanked the country's leadership for their trust in holding such a large-scale sports event in the capital of the republic.

“Our most favourite Sabantuy holiday takes place simultaneously with the finish of the BRICS Games. The holding of the Games in Tatarstan testifies to the great trust of the Russian leadership. Kazan has received such tasks before. I would like to thank the guests who came to these competitions, all Kazan residents, guests from our republic and from other regions for that we all live together in peace and harmony and enjoy this holiday. Unfortunately, the competitions have finished. Thanks to all the participants!” the rais thanked the guests.

The Tatar national holiday Sabantuy was held at three venues in Kazan, the closing of the BRICS Games was held on the Maidan of the village of Mirny. In addition to the Tatarstan leader, the ceremony was attended by Tatarstan State Adviser Mintimer Shaimiev, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin, external adviser to the head of the Government of the Russian Federation on sports Oleg Matytsin, delegates of the BRICS+ Cities Forum and the athletes themselves.

Together with the official delegation, the foreign athletes visited the national farmsteads, got acquainted with the traditions and culture of the Tatar people. The guests, along with Kazan residents, were happy to participate in popular competitions: running with a yoke or in bags, playing “break the pot”, they started into a Tatar dance and treated themselves to chak-chak. A theatrical show about the history of Sabantuy and friendship of peoples was shown on the main Maidan. At the end of the ceremony, the flags of all the participating countries of the BRICS Games were taken out.

“I would like to thank Tatarstan, Kazan and the Russian Ministry of Sports for hosting the BRICS Games. When the decision was made to organise them, we had no doubt that they should take place here," Igor Levitin stressed at the closing of the tournament.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş made a speech in response from foreign guests, who noted the long-standing traditions of friendship between Tatarstan and Turkey: “I am very glad to attend the ancient holiday in a city with a thousand-year history. I am sure that the friendship between Kazan and Ankara will flourish. Thanks to this, we will develop and improve the well-being of our countries.”

Medal standings of BRICS 2024 Games