The next Olympics could be boycotted by up to 40 nations, Kamil Bortniczuk, Poland's minister of sport and tourism, predicted.

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.

He added: "Considering this I don't think we will face tough decisions before the Olympics and, if we were to boycott the Games, the coalition we will be a part of will be broad enough to make holding the Games pointless."

Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stated that it would "explore a pathway" 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.

However, IOC president Thomas Bach has since said that was only intended as a "protective" measure towards those athletes, and now insists they should not be discriminated against.

On Thursday, sports ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland said "any effort by the International Olympic Committee to bring back Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, even under a neutral flag, should be rejected".

They added: "Efforts to return Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports competitions under the veil of neutrality legitimize political decisions and widespread propaganda of these countries."

And they called on "all international sports organisations and federations" to remove Russian and Belarusians athletes from international competitions until the war ends.

The United States government said it supports suspending Russian and Belarusian sport governing bodies from international sports organisations and is also encouraging organisations to stop broadcasting events into both countries.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that, if athletes are permitted to participate in events such as the Olympics, it should be as neutral athletes and "it should be absolutely clear that they are not representing the Russian or Belarusian states".

The IOC reiterated that no discussions on the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competition had yet taken place and warned Ukraine and other nations about the implications of threatening a boycott.

"Threatening a boycott of the Olympic Games, which the NOC of Ukraine is currently considering, goes against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement and the principles it stands for," the IOC wrote in a question-and-answer document published on Thursday.

"A boycott is a violation of the Olympic charter, which obliges all NOCs to 'participate in the Games of the Olympiad by sending athletes'. As history has shown, previous boycotts did not achieve their political ends and served only to punish the athletes of the boycotting NOCs."