Tokyo: government said a Belarus track sprinter was safe Monday after she alleged her Olympic team tried to remove her from the Olympics venue. The sprinter identified as Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has also alleged that officials of her country tried to take her back to Belarus. An activist group supporting Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she believed her life was in danger in Belarus. It said she would seek asylum with the Austrian Embassy here.
Government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters that Japan was cooperating with other organizations ‘to take appropriate measures’. He also confirmed that Tsimanouskaya was safe. The foreign ministry said Japan was working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo Olympics organisers.
Tsimanouskaya said in a filmed message distributed on social media that she was pressured by Belarus team officials. Dhe asked the IOC for help.
“I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of Japan without my consent,” the 24-year-old runner said.
Tsimanouskaya criticised Belarus team officials on her Instagram account. She said she’d been put in the 4×400 metres relay despite never racing the event. The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation said government supporters targeted the athlete, and Tsimanouskaya contacted the group for help to avoid what she feared was a forced deportation to Minsk.
Tsimanouskaya summoned Japanese police at Haneda Airport and did not board a flight departing for Istanbul. Foreign ministry officials arrived later at the airport, informed an official.
In a statement released by the BSSF, Tsimanouskaya said she was in a police station early Monday morning. “I explained the situation to a police officer of how I was taken from the Olympic Village,” she said. “Now I am in a secure situation and am figuring out the question of where I will spend the night.”
The IOC, which has been in dispute with the Belarus National Olympic Committee ahead of the Tokyo Games, said it had intervened. “The IOC … is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC for clarification,” it said in a statement.
Belarus’ neighbour, Poland, where many critics of the Minsk regime have come to live, offered help to Tsimanouskaya. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter that Tsimanouskaya has been offered a ‘humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses’.
A spokeswoman for the Belarus Olympic team did not respond to a request for comment.
Tsimanouskaya was taken to a safe place and would ask for asylum from the Austrian embassy. Tsimanouskaya already competed for Belarus on the first day of track events Friday. She finished fourth in her first-round heat in the 100 metres with a timing of 11.47 seconds, and did not qualify for the semifinals.