Belarusian athlete Kryscina Cimanouská, after the Olympic Games, found asylum in Poland, where she wants to continue her career.
Martin Meissner, ČTK / AP
“Our lives have changed day by day and now we are starting again from the beginning in a new country. We plan to stay here and continue our careers,” said Cimanouska for herself and her husband Arseniy Zdanevich, an athletic coach.
“We turned to the Ministry of Sports and the Polish athletics team with questions about the coach, the training group, the place where I could train, and other things so that I could continue my career here in Poland,” said a sprinter specialist who In 2019 she won the Universiade and won two silver medals at the European Games in Minsk.
Cimanouská put a medal at the auction, she wants to support persecuted athletes
Cimanouská and her husband each arrived in Poland separately thanks to humanitarian visas. “We definitely feel safe here because we’re under protection here,” she said.
Cimanouska was forced to leave early by Belarusian officials, whom she had previously criticized on the instagram for nominating her for the 4×400 meter relay, which she had never run before. At Tokyo Airport, the athlete turned to the Japanese police and asked for protection, fearing that she would not be safe when she returned to Belarus.
After investigating the case, the International Olympic Committee withdrew accreditation from athletic coach Yuri Mojsevich and official Arthur Sumak, who forced Cimanouska to leave. The athlete stated that she had been told that she had been ordered “from higher places” to send her home.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country hard for 27 years and is not recognized by the opposition and many Western nations, including the European Union, called Cimanouska “manipulated” by foreign forces on Monday.
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