• Polish minister says up to 40 countries may boycott Olympics.
• Comments follow rejection of an IOC proposal to let Russian.
• Belarusian athletes compete in 2024 by Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

As per Kamil Bortniczuk, Poland’s minister of sport and tourism, up to 40 countries may boycott the forthcoming Olympic Games, rendering the entire competition useless.

His remarks follow the joint rejection of an IOC proposal to let Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete in 2024 by Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

In the event that happens, Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Olympics in Paris.

The IOC, meanwhile, claimed on Thursday that any boycott would “punish athletes.”

Before a meeting on February 10th, Bortniczuk said he thought it would be possible to put together a coalition of 40 nations, including Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, to back a block on the IOC’s intentions.

“Considering this, I don’t think we’ll face tough decisions before the Olympics, and if we do boycott the Games, the coalition we’ll be a part of will be big enough to render the Games worthless,” he added.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that it would “examine a road” to let Russian and Belarusian competitors to compete in Paris under a neutral flag, adding that “no athlete should be banned from competing solely because of their passport.”

The UK Government criticized the action, claiming that it was “a world away from the reality of war.”

Vadym Guttsait, the minister of sports for Ukraine, stated that in order to maintain the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes that the IOC executive committee imposed immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the nation’s sporting bodies needed to “strengthen communication” with international federations.

IOC President Thomas Bach, however, later clarified that it was just a “protective” measure for such athletes and now maintains that they shouldn’t face discrimination.

Sports ministers from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia declared on Thursday that “any effort by the International Olympic Committee to bring back Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, even under a neutral flag, should be refused.”

They continued: “Attempts to legitimize political decisions and pervasive propaganda of these countries by bringing back Russian and Belarusian sportsmen to international sporting tournaments under the guise of neutrality.”

Athletes from Russia and Belarus should be excluded from international tournaments until the war is over, they urged “all international sports organizations and federations.”

In addition to asking international sports organizations to discontinue broadcasting tournaments into Belarus and Russia, the US government said it favors suspending the national sports federations from those groups.

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