iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Hospitals brace for uptick in typhoid and bacterial infections; and mosquito- and fly-borne diseases like dengue
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Tokyo Olympics: Belarusian sprinter says she was taken to airport against her wishes
Reuters
Tokyo - Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women’s 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she did not plan to return to her home country.
A Belarusian sprinter said she was taken to the airport against her wishes on Sunday to board a flight back home after she complained about national coaches at the Tokyo Olympics.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women’s 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she did not plan to return to her home country. She said she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Tokyo’s Haneda airport so she would not have to board the flight.
“I will not return to Belarus,” she told Reuters in a message over Telegram.
The Belarusian Olympic Committee said in a statement that coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors’ advice about her “emotional, psychological state”.
The Belarusian Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
A Reuters photographer witnessed the athlete standing next to Japanese police.
“I think I am safe,” she said. “I am with the police.”
A police officer at Haneda airport said they were with a female Olympic athlete from Belarus at Terminal 3.
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.
Tsimanouskaya filmed a video that was published on Telegram by the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, in which she asked the International Olympic Committee to get involved in her case.
The IOC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
COACHES’ ‘NEGLIGENCE’
Tsimanouskaya, 24, said coaching staff had come to her room on Sunday and told her to pack. She was taken to the airport before she could run in the 200 metres and 4x400 metres 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 previously complained she was entered in the 4x400 m relay after some members of the team were found to be ineligible to compete at the Olympics because they had not undergone a sufficient amount of doping tests.
“Some of our girls did not fly here to compete in the 4x400 m 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.”
Tsimanouskaya added that she had reached out to members of the Belarusian diaspora in Japan to retrieve her at the airport.
More news from
With 30% of their inventory damaged, owners of Preloved Books now face the daunting task of rebuilding from scratch
Five-time champions hold their nerve to claim victory by nine runs in the final over at Chandigarh
Natasha Abbas is a British civil engineer who co-founded North 51, a project management consultancy in Dubai
People who are assessing your qualifications can quickly tell the difference between an authentic life narrative and a third-party account
Arab-Canadian public speaking coach and author of The Million Dollar Speaker Maher Elusini on how to make your speech command value for time and money
The legendary Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis, who is all set to perform at the Dubai Opera next week, on music transcending cultural and language barriers
Not every kid is meant to go to university or college. So, it makes sense to teach them entrepreneurial skills early
