TOKYO, KOMPAS.com – A Belarusian athlete came under the protection of Japanese authorities on Monday (2/8/2021), a day after he claimed he was forced home by his team after publicly criticizing his country’s Olympic coach.
Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya sought the protection of Japanese police at Haneda Airport on Sunday (1/8/2021), after she refused to board a flight to Minsk, the International Olympic Committee and Japanese authorities confirmed.
“They tried to get me out of the country without my permission,” said Tsimanouskaya, 24, in a video posted online by the Belarus Sports Solidarity Foundation, or BSSF.
The IOC confirmed in a tweet on Sunday (1/8/2021) that Tsimanouskaya was “with the authorities at Haneda airport.”
“She (Tsimanouskaya) has told us she feels safe,” he said NBC News.
Also read: Tokyo Olympics, Belarus Running Athletes Refusing To Be Repatriated After Criticism Of Their Own Federation
The Polish government was the first to offer Tsimanouskaya a sanctuary.
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“He was offered a humanitarian visa and is free to pursue his sporting career in Poland if he wishes,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter.
The Czechs also offered to accept Tsimanouskaya, and the BSSF said she might seek asylum in Germany or Austria.
Tsimanouskaya’s escape, first reported by Reuters, comes as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has come under heavy criticism for his brutal crackdown on political opponents who tried to remove him from the post he has held since 1994.
The president of the Belarusian Olympic committee is Lukashenko’s son Victor.
The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarus Consulate in Tokyo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the IOC to protect the athlete and accused the Lukashenko regime of trying to “kidnap” him.
Sviatlana likened the airport incident last weekend, to the forced landing in May of a Ryanair jet in Minsk, to the arrest of dissident journalist Roman Protashevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
Exclusive: Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she was taken to the airport against her wishes to board a flight back home after she publicly complained about national coaches at the Tokyo #Olympics. @gabrielletf reports https://t.co/jICTnn3L4p pic.twitter.com/656Yc9nS93
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 1, 2021
Read also: The man who ordered the Ryanair plane to land in Belarus has mysteriously disappeared
Tsimanouskaya, who ran in the women’s 100m on Friday (30/7/2021), was supposed to run in the 200m on Monday (2/8/2021) and the 4x400m relay on Thursday (5/7/2021).
He claims he got into trouble with his coach after complaining on Instagram that he had to follow the relay. It came after the rest of the team was deemed ineligible to compete in the Olympics, because they had not undergone all the doping tests.
“Some women from our country, don’t fly here (Japan) to compete in the 4×400 meter relay because they don’t have enough doping tests,” Tsimanouskaya told Reuters at the airport.
“And the coach added me to the relay without my knowledge. I spoke about this in public. The head coach came to me and said there was an order from above to get me out.”
Also read: Belarus Closes Border with Ukraine, Accuses Coup Scenario
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