Russian athletes brought home 59 medals: 35 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze. Second place in the team standings went to China (55 medals), third – to the hosting country (51).

Russian Evgenia Chikunova, the author of the world record in the 200m breaststroke, took the top spot on the podium seven times. Daria Klepikova, another swimmer, has one more gold medal, as reported by “Vedomosti”.

According to the regulations, the types of sports and age of athletes are selected by the state – the Chairman of BRICS. In 2023, South Africa selected five Olympic and two Paralympic sports, determining the age of athletes allowed to compete, not older than 19-21 years for different sports: badminton (not older than 21 years), table tennis, including Paralympic (not older than 19 years), beach volleyball (not older than 21 years), swimming (not older than 20 years), tennis, including Paralympic (not older than 21 years).

All five teams competed under their national flags.

At the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, the bloc welcomed six new members – the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Argentina, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Next year, BRICS is chaired by Russia and the BRICS Games will be hosted in an open format by Kazan from 11-23 June.

“We expect at least five thousand athletes from 11 BRICS member states, including six new ones that have joined. But there will be more, we see the interest, about 50 countries will come to us by invitation,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said at the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports.

All events related to Russia’s BRICS chairmanship will be held under the auspices of the Roscongress Foundation.

Photo: IStock