Final Up to date: February 03, 2023, 13:03 IST
Poland’s sport and tourism minister Kamil Bortniczuk has mentioned that almost 40 international locations may boycott the Paris Olympics to make the holding of the Video games “pointless”.
Bortniczuk mentioned he believed it will be doable to construct a coalition of 40 international locations, together with Nice Britain, the USA and Canada, to help a block on the IOC’s plans earlier than a gathering on 10 February, BBC reported.
“Contemplating this I don’t suppose we are going to face powerful choices earlier than the Olympics and, if we have been to boycott the Video games, the coalition we will likely be part of will likely be broad sufficient to make holding the Video games pointless,” he added:
Final week, the IOC introduced it will “discover a pathway” to permit Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris beneath a impartial flag, citing that “no athlete needs to be prevented from competing simply due to their passport”.
Consequently, Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Olympic Video games if such issues occur.
On Thursday, Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania — and Poland collectively condemned the IOC’s name for permitting athletes of the aggressor international locations, Russia and Belarus, into worldwide competitions saying that it’ll legitimise and distract consideration from Russia’s struggle of aggression in opposition to Ukraine.
The sports activities ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland mentioned that “permitting Russians and Belarusians to return to the worldwide competitions may additionally put athletes in a tough place and beneath additional stress by competing in opposition to Russians and Belarusians or dealing with them and their supporters at sports activities occasions.”
“Efforts to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to worldwide sports activities competitions beneath the veil of neutrality legitimize political choices and widespread propaganda of those international locations additionally by way of the usage of sport as a distraction from the unlawful aggression in opposition to Ukraine,” the assertion learn.
In a question-and-answer doc revealed on Thursday, the IOC mentioned “threatening a boycott of the Olympic Video games goes in opposition to the basics of the Olympic Motion. The boycotts didn’t obtain their political ends and served solely to punish the athletes of the boycotting NOCs.”
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