Up to 40 countries can boycott the next Olympic Games, which will make the whole event pointless, said the Minister of Sports and Tourism of Poland, Kamil Bortnychuk.
His comments came after Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia jointly rejected an International Olympic Committee (IOC) plan to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete in 2024.
Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Olympics in Paris if this happens.
But on Thursday, the IOC said that any boycott would only “punish the athletes.”
Bortnychuk said he believed it was possible to form a coalition of 40 countries, including Great Britain, the United States and Canada, to support blocking the IOC’s plans before the February 10 meeting.
He added: “Having said that, I don’t think we will face any tough decisions before the Olympics and, if we do boycott the Games, the coalition we will be part of will be broad enough to make the Games meaningless.”
The IOC announced last week that it would “explore a way” to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris under a neutral flag, adding that “no athlete should be barred from competing just because of their passport.”
The move drew condemnation, with the British government saying the plan was “remote from the realities of war”.
Minister of Sports of Ukraine Vadym Gutzait said that the country’s sports bodies need to “strengthen communication” with international federations in order to keep in force the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, which was imposed by the IOC Executive Committee immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However, IOC president Thomas Bach has since said it was only intended as a “protective” measure against these athletes and now insists they cannot be discriminated against.
On Thursday, the sports ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland said that “any attempts by the International Olympic Committee to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competition, even under a neutral flag, must be rejected.”
They added: “Efforts to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions under the veil of neutrality legitimize the political decisions and broad propaganda of these countries.”
And they called on “all international sports organizations and federations” to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions until the end of the war.
The United States government said it supports the suspension of Russian and Belarusian sports governing bodies from international sports organizations and encourages the organizations to stop broadcasting events to both countries.
White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre added that if athletes are allowed to participate in events like the Olympics, it should be as neutral athletes and “it should be absolutely clear that they do not represent Russia or Belarus.” “.
The IOC confirmed that no discussions had yet taken place regarding the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the competition, and warned Ukraine and other countries of the consequences of the boycott threat.
“The threat to boycott the Olympic Games, which is currently being considered by the NOC of Ukraine, goes against the foundations of the Olympic movement and the principles it stands for,” the IOC’s Q&A document published on Thursday said.
“The boycott is a violation of the Olympic Charter, which obliges all NOCs to ‘participate in the Olympic Games by sending athletes.’ As history has shown, previous boycotts did not achieve their political goals and served only to punish the boycotting NOK athletes.”
