Belarusian Olympic runner Kristina Timanovskaya is “safe and secure”, according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The athlete, who the opposition believes should be kidnapped from Tokyo by the authoritarian authorities in her country, spent the night in a hotel at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in a “safe environment,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams on Monday. It is in the hands of the authorities, he said, but without giving any details. A written report has been requested from the Belarusian Olympic Committee (NOK). One must first wait for the exact background and details of the incident.
The 24-year-old athlete said in a video published by the opposition Belarusian athletes’ association Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) on Sunday that she had been flown out of Japan against her will after publicly criticizing Belarusian sports officials. The BSSF spoke of an attempted “violent” exit.
The athlete had criticized the Belarusian Athletics Federation
The trigger of the affair was apparently a now deleted video that Timanovskaya had posted on Instagram. In it she criticized the Belarusian Athletics Federation. Timanovskaya said she was forced to take part in the 4×400 race because the association had not guaranteed the number of adequate doping controls for the athletes scheduled for the relay.
On Monday morning, the sprinter was originally on the starting list for the 200 meters. The Belarusian NOK publicly stated that Timanovskaya could no longer participate in the games “due to her emotional and psychological condition”. The athlete called it a “lie” on Instagram. She told the radio station Euroradio: “You just told me to pack my things and fly home.”
The independent athlete organization Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) supports Timanovskaya. “Representatives of the Belarusian squad are trying to kidnap the athlete from Tokyo. A plane ticket to Minsk was bought for her,” the foundation established last year wrote on Telegram.
Sanctions against the Belarusian Olympic Committee
In the daily press conference, IOC spokesman Adams referred to the sanctions that had been imposed on the National Olympic Committee (NOK) in Belarus last year. Head of state Alexander Lukashenko had to give up his position as NOK chairman, the IOC refused to recognize his son Viktor as his successor. The financial donations have been suspended, as have the talks about IOC events in Belarus.
The IOC accused Belarus that the “previous leadership of the NOK had not adequately protected Belarusian athletes from political discrimination”. According to media reports, more than 100 athletes have been banned from competitive sports in Belarus since they signed an open letter calling for an end to police violence against demonstrators critical of the government.
According to the Japanese government spokesman Katsunobu Katō, Kristina Timanowskaja is planning to apply for asylum in Japan. Various media had previously reported that Timanovskaya wanted to seek refuge in a European country.
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