Footage Russia 1 Alexander Maltsev of Russia wins a gold medal in artistic swimming – but he’s actually the only competitor

From morning to night, the European football championship in Germany is broadcast on world televisions.

And no one says a word about another important event, as if it is from some other world, and that’s probably right.

The BRICS Games are called the „Alternative Olympics“ – the tournament is organized by Russia in Kazan, writes Boulevard Bulgaria.

The best illustration of this event is the artistic swimming competition.

Russia’s Alexander Maltsev wins a gold medal – but in fact he is the only participant. There simply isn’t a single other athlete in the „race“.

The shot of Maltsev’s lone name on the leaderboard against the empty pool is making the rounds on social media.

It’s not a joke, it’s the truth, the BRICS Games have been flooding the Russian media for the past week.

„Meduza“ reports that state television and news agencies in Russia cover the competition as a sports event of the highest order. TASS publishes 30-35 articles each day dedicated to the tournament, but allocates about 10 materials to Euro 2024.

Ukraine’s participation in Euro 2024 is banned from broadcasting in Russia.

Gazprom’s sports television, Match TV, broadcasts the BRICS Games live for 3-4 hours a day, devoting a few more hours of its program time to them at night, when it broadcasts replays.

300 media personnel were sent to Kazan to cover the event, with 120 cameras and seven PTS. All this is just an example of the importance of games, commented „Meduza“.

The competition has been held every year since 2017, but until now almost no one paid attention to it.

By design, the countries of the organization of the same name should participate in it – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Initially, tournaments were held in a limited range of sports disciplines due to a lack of interest, but in 2024, Russia changed the entire philosophy of the event.

According to the organizers, athletes from 93 countries are already participating in the BRICS Games. .

In the overall ranking, however, Russia dominates with a total of 249 medals – of which 120 gold, 80 silver and 49 bronze.

About a quarter of all participants in the BRICS Games are from Russia or Belarus alone, the two countries that were banned from the Olympics (their athletes can only compete under a neutral flag).

In some cases, as with Alexander Maltsev, athletes have no one to compete with. Three disciplines were removed from the games schedule shortly before their start because there were not enough participants for them.

Maltsev performed alone and won gold in the free program of artistic swimming, while in the technical program he „struggled“ against one rival. And he gets a gold medal again.

„Medusa“ points out that the level of the tournament itself is too low. Of the more than 600 representatives of Russia, only a few people have won honors at the Olympic Games or world championships in their sport.

China is sending more than 100 people to Kazan, but none of them have appeared at the Olympics.

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