PARIS, March 19. /TASS/. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) doesn’t consider the Friendship Games in Russia as a rival to the Olympic Games and thinks that their holding is linked with the politicization of sport, Director of National Olympic Committees (NOC) Relations and Olympic Solidarity James Macleod said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the IOC called on foreign athletes and government to refuse from the participation in the Friendship Games in Russia, calling them "politicized."
"With respect to the Friendship Games, we don’t see that is a rival to the Olympic Games, of course," he said. "The view that we have relating to those Games is very much linked to the politicization of sport. As you know, the Olympic Games is not a political event and that is for 206 national Olympic committees of the world. And one of the reasons we wanted the Executive Board to put out the declaration was to make sure that the position of the Olympic movement was very clear vis-a-vis the politicization that is growing and growing across the world and making sure that everyone was clear on our position relating to those games," Macleod said.
The Friendship Games will be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg from September 15 through 29.