Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, of Belarus, runs in the women's 100-meter run at the 2020 Summer Olympics, July 30, 2021.
MARTIN MEISSNER/AP)
TOKYO – A Belarusian sprinter refused to get on a flight from Tokyo on Sunday after being taken to the airport against her wishes by her team following her complaints about national coaching staff at the Olympic Games.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, sought protection from Japanese police at Haneda airport late on Sunday. Early on Monday, Japanese lawmaker Taiga Ishikawa tried to visit her at the sub-precinct at the airport but police told him she was no longer there.
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Japan's top government spokesman said on Monday that Tsimanouskaya was safe.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato also told a news conference that authorities, including the International Olympic Committee, were working to confirm her intentions, and that Japan would take "appropriate steps" in cooperation with other bodies.
Ishikawa, an opposition member of the Upper House of parliament, told Reuters a police officer declined to tell him where the athlete was. Police did not comment to reporters.
Tsimanouskaya said coaching staff had come to her room on Sunday and told her to pack. She said she was then taken to Haneda airport by representatives of the Belarusian Olympic team.
But she refused to board the flight, telling Reuters in a message over Telegram: "I will not return to Belarus."
The Belarusian Olympic Committee said in a statement coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors' advice about her "emotional, psychological state".
A source at the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, which supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views, said Tsimanouskaya planned to request asylum in Germany or Austria on Monday
The committee did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Earlier, a Reuters photographer saw the athlete standing next to police at the airport. "I think I am safe," Tsimanouskaya said. "I am with the police."
In a video published on Telegram by the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, Tsimanouskaya asked the IOC to get involved in her case.
A source at the foundation, which supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views, said Tsimanouskaya planned to request asylum in Germany or Austria on Monday.
The foundation's head, former Olympic swimmer Aliaksandra Herasimenia, told Reuters Tsimanouskaya could also be receiving assistance from Poland.
"We appealed to a number of countries for help," said Herasimenia, a three-time Olympic medallist. "But the first that reacted was the Polish consulate. We are ready to accept their help."
Coaches’ ‘negligence’
Tsimanouskaya ran in the women's 100 meters heats on Friday and was scheduled to run in the 200 meters heats on Monday, along with the 4×400 meters relay on Thursday.
She said she had been removed from the team due "to the fact that I spoke on my Instagram about the negligence of our coaches".
Tsimanouskaya had complained on Instagram that she was entered in the 4x400m relay after some team members were found to be ineligible to compete at the Olympics because they had not undergone a sufficient amount of doping tests.
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"Some of our girls did not fly here to compete in the 4x400m relay because they didn't have enough doping tests," Tsimanouskaya told Reuters from the airport.
"And the coach added me to the relay without my knowledge. I spoke about this publicly. The head coach came over to me and said there had been an order from above to remove me."
The head of the Belarus athletics team in Tokyo, Yuri Moisevich, told state-owned broadcaster STV the decision had been taken to make changes to the relay team, but they did not announce it immediately so as not to disrupt the athletes' preparation.
"We intended to tell her everything, to explain it, especially as she was a reserve," Moisevich said.