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Belarusian sprinter flees from Tokyo to Poland

Krystina Tsimanouskaya was forced to return home to Belarus early after publically criticizing her coaches. Now she is safe in Poland and is seeking citizenship

August 9, 2021
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While most athletes left the Olympic village have and returned to their home countries, Belarusian sprinter Krystina Tsimanouskaya went to Poland, after she was nearly forced to go back to Belarus early for criticizing her coaches. Fearing for her safety, she called out for help from the IOC and from Japanese police, and on Wednesday she flew to Warsaw instead of returning home.

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The situation began to unfold on Sunday, Aug. 1, one day before Tsimanouskaya was due to compete in the women’s 200m. After a couple of Belarusian athletes were deemed ineligible to compete, her coaches entered her in the 4 x 400m relay, an event the 24-year-old had no experience in. She complained about the situation in a video on social media, which led to criticism by the Belarus media, which claimed she lacked team spirit.

A report by the BBC says it wasn’t long after that that Belarusian officials arrived at the sprinter’s room, telling her to pack her bags. Reportedly, the order to send her home had come from “high up” in Belarus. In a news conference in Warsaw, Timanovskaya said her grandmother warned her not to return home “because, on TV, they say a lot of bad words about you, that you have some mental problems.” Her parents also warned her not to return, telling her the citizens were being encouraged to write hateful messages about her on social media.

Fearing she may face punishment back home, she managed to use Google Translate to get help from Japanese officials at the airport and has now fled to Poland, where she has been granted a visa. Her husband has also fled to Ukraine and is expected to join her in Poland shortly. According to the BBC, Timanovskaya’s main concern now is the safety and well-being of her family, who are still in Belarus.

In an interview with Reuters, the sprinter said her coaches did not expect that she’d be able to approach police at the airport. “They think that we are scared to make a move, that we are afraid to speak, afraid to tell the truth to the whole world. But I am not afraid,” she said. “I am not of those people who are scared.”

She would, however, like to go home. “I would want to return to Belarus. I love my country. I did not betray it and I hope I will be able to return,” she said.

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There were a few other Belarusian Olympians who had already been prosecuted or jailed, or who fled for publicly voicing their opposition to the country’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, but Tsimanouskaya was not among them.

According to the BBC, the IOC stripped two Belarusian coaches of their Olympic accreditations for attempting to force Timanovskaya to leave the Games. 

Update as of Aug. 19, Tsimanouskaya is currently living and competing in Warsaw, Poland. She is in the process of changing her citizenship, which can often take some time but hopes to be fast-tracked, so she can compete for Poland’s national team and qualify for the European and World Championships in 2022.

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