A Belarusian runner refused to board a flight from Tokyo on Sunday after her team flew her to the airport against her will after she complained about the national coaching staff at the Olympics.
Kristina Tsimanoskaya, 24, was still at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the early hours of Monday.
The IOC said it had spoken to Tsimanskaya and that she was accompanied by a Tokyo 2020 staff member at the airport.
«She told us she feels safe,» the IOC said in a tweet.
She added that the IOC and Tokyo 2020 would continue their talks with Tsimanskaya and the authorities «to determine the next steps in the coming days.»
The IOC and Tokyo 2020 spoke to Kristina Tsimanskaya live tonight. She is with the authorities at Haneda Airport and is currently accompanied by an employee in Tokyo 2020. She told us she feels safe. / 1
– IOC MEDIA (iocmedia) August 1, 2021
Sunday’s incident, first reported by Reuters, highlighted the rift in Belarus, the former Soviet country that President Alexander Lukashenko has run with a tight fist. In power since 1994, he faced a wave of protests last year, which some athletes joined.
Tsimanoskaya said coaching staff came to her room on Sunday and asked her to pack up. She said representatives of the Belarus Olympic team took her to Haneda Airport.
But she refused to board the plane and sought protection from Japanese police instead, telling Reuters in a Telegram message: «I will not go back to Belarus.»
The Belarusian Olympic Committee said in a statement that the coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanoskaya from the Games on the advice of doctors regarding her «emotional and psychological state».
The committee did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
«I think I’m safe»
Earlier, a Reuters photographer saw the athlete standing next to the police at the airport. «I think I’m safe,» Tsimanskaya said. «I’m with the police.»
In a video posted earlier on Telegram by the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation, Tsimanouskaya asked the IOC to take part in her case.
A source at the foundation, which supports athletes imprisoned or marginalized for their political views, said Tsimanoskaya plans to seek asylum in Germany or Austria on Monday.
The Belarusian sports system forced Kristina Temanoskaya to leave Tweet embed In Tokyo and travel to Belarus after criticizing the Belarus management of the national team during the matches. She is afraid to return to Minsk. No athlete should be forced in this way. pic.twitter.com/1Ros5scrJG
– Svyatlana Tsihanouskaya August 1, 2021
The head of the foundation, former Olympic swimmer Alexandra Heracemenia, told Reuters that Tsimanoskaya could also receive help from Poland.
«We have appealed to a number of countries for help,» said three-time Olympic medalist Heracemenya. But the first reaction was the Polish consulate. We are ready to accept their help.
Lukashenko’s son, Viktor Lukashenko, is the head of the Belarusian Olympic Committee.
«Neglecting»
Tsimanoskaya ran the women’s 100m heats on Friday and was scheduled to run in the 200m heats on Monday, along with the 4x400m relay on Thursday.
She said she was kicked out of the team due to «the fact that I spoke on my Instagram page about neglecting our coaches».
Tsimanoskaya had complained on Instagram about her entry into the 4x400m relay after some team members were found ineligible to compete in the Olympics because they had not undergone enough doping tests.
«Some of our girls didn’t travel here to compete in the 4x400m relay because they didn’t have enough doping tests,» Tsimanoskaya told Reuters from the airport.
«The coach added me to the relay without my knowledge. I spoke about it publicly. The coach came to me and said there was an order from above to remove me.»
Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsykhanoskaya has urged the International Olympic Committee to take up the athlete’s issue.
«She has the right to international protection and to continue participating in the @Olympics,» Tsikhanoskaya wrote on Twitter. «It is also important to investigate Belarus’ violations of athletes’ rights,» he added.
Vitaly Utkin, a member of the Belarusian parliament, criticized Tsimanoskaya’s behavior.
«It is a betrayal and betrayal directed at the Belarusian people and her fellow athletes,» Utkin was quoted as saying by state-owned STV.
Athletes’ Prison
Lukashenko faced massive street protests last year over what his opponents called a rigged election, and ordered a violent crackdown on protesters. The president denies the allegations of vote tampering.
Unusually in a country where elite athletes often rely on government funding, some prominent Belarusian athletes have joined the protests. Several of them were imprisoned, Olympic basketball player Jelena Lyushanka and Decathlon player Andrei Krauchanka.
Others lost their government jobs or were expelled from the national teams for supporting the opposition.
During the Cold War, scores of athletes and cultural figures defected from the Soviet Union and its satellite states during competitions or overseas tours, however, the freedom of travel that came with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw the need for such drama. Actions diminish.
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