Talks are underway in Russia over holding the "World Friendship Games" shortly after the conclusion of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed the idea which appears to be the resurrection of the Friendship Games - a multi-sport event that was run by the Soviet Union and eight of its allies after the country boycotted the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics.

The Games could feature Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which all form part of a political alliance called BRICS.

There are also plans to hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Games with Kazan in Russia mooted as a potential host city.

SCO is another intergovernmental organisation which comprises of Russia, China, India and Pakistan as well as the Central Asian former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Rebel events competing with the Olympic Games is a nightmare scenario for the International Olympic Committee [IOC], especially if global superpowers like Russia and China are involved.

Ricci Bitti, who has led ASOIF since 2015 and is a member of the Paris 2024 IOC Coordination Commission, said he was against any breakaway multi-sport events.

"I cannot answer for the President of the IOC, but I believe that there is not so much strength to have something [which is a] very important alternative," said Ricci Bitti when asked about Russia’s plans for the World Friendship Games.

"It’s better to avoid this because this will always be very contentious.

"I believe there have been examples in the past where Games have been played in the time of the boycott that has not resulted in something very solid.

"Personally, I would not be so worried, but this is not a question for me as I am not the leader of the sports movement."

As well as the Friendship Games in 1984, other events viewed as alternatives to the Olympics have come and gone.

Indonesia launched the Games of New Emerging Forces which held two editions in the 1960s as an Olympic rival.

In 1986, American television mogul and CNN founder Ted Turner launched the Goodwill Games, which were briefly seen as being a serious rival to the IOC.

The first edition was staged in Moscow and were subsequently staged in Seattle in 1990, Saint Petersburg in 1994, New York City in 1998 and Brisbane in 2001, before being cancelled because of poor television ratings.

To try to avoid further boycotts, the Olympic Charter was changed in 1999 to oblige all National Olympic Committees to send a team to the Summer Olympics.

Discussions over hosting events outside of the Olympic Movement were regularly on the agenda in Russia when the country’s athletes were largely frozen out of international sport in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Russia held a Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics replacement event in Khanty-Mansiysk, attended by five countries after being banned from the Games.

The IOC recommended in March that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be allowed to return to international competition as neutrals, provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the military.

A decision on participation for Paris 2024 has yet to be made but International Federations have been divided in their response to the IOC’s change in stance.

Archery, canoeing, cycling, fencing, golf, judo, modern pentathlon, shooting, skateboarding, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, weightlifting and wrestling have lifted blanked bans, but athletics, badminton, equestrian, sport climbing and surfing have maintained their measures.