Tokyo:
A Belarusian athlete who refused to board a flight soon after she mentioned she was taken to the airport by her group against her wishes was “safe and secure” in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee mentioned on Monday.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, spent the evening in an airport hotel soon after she went to Japanese police at Haneda airport searching for protection late on Sunday, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a media conference. A quantity of agencies had been in get in touch with with the sprinter, which includes the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, he added.
In a brewing diplomatic incident, it was unclear exactly where Tsimanouskaya would finish up with each Poland and the Czech Republic publicly supplying her help.
“She has assured us she is safe and secure. We are talking again to her this morning to understand what the next steps will be,” Adams mentioned. “We need to listen to her, find out what she wants and support her in her decision.”
The sprinter, who was due to race in the 200 metre heats at Olympic Stadium on Monday, had her Games reduce quick when she mentioned she was taken to the airport to board a Turkish Airlines flight.
She told a Reuters reporter by means of Telegram that the Belarusian head coach had turned up at her area on Sunday at the athletes village and told her she had to leave.
“The head coach came over to me and said there had been an order from above to remove me,” she wrote in the message. “At 5 (pm) they came my room and told me to pack and they took me to the airport.”
But she refused to board the flight, telling Reuters: “I will not return to Belarus.”
The Belarusian Olympic Committee mentioned in a statement coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors’ suggestions about her “emotional, psychological state”.
Belarus athletics head coach Yuri Moisevich told state tv he “could see there was something wrong with her… She either secluded herself or didn’t want to talk.”
The IOC would continue conversations with Tsimanouskaya on Monday and the Olympics governing body had asked for a complete report from the Belarus’ Olympic committee, Adams mentioned.
In response to a quantity of concerns by journalists about what the IOC would do to make sure other athletes in the village had been protected, the IOC spokesperson mentioned they had been nevertheless collecting specifics about what specifically occurred.
Looking for ASYLUM
A member of the neighborhood Belarusian neighborhood, who had been in get in touch with with the athlete all through the evening, told Reuters that soon after extended talks with many officials she had petitioned for asylum in Japan.
The Japanese government mentioned the athlete had been kept protected whilst Tokyo 2020 organisers and the IOC checked her intentions.
“Japan is coordinating with relevant parties and continue to take appropriate action,” mentioned chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato.
Both Poland and the Czech Republic presented their assistance on Monday.
Polish foreign ministry official Marcin Przydacz wrote on Twitter that Tsimanouskaya has been “offered a humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses.”
Poland’s Olympic committee did not instantly respond to a request for comment.
Czech foreign minister Jakub Kulhanek mentioned he regarded as the circumstance about the Belarusian “scandalous.”
“The Czech Republic is ready to help,” he tweeted. “We are offering her a visa to enter the territory so that she can apply for international protection with us. Our embassy in Tokyo is also ready to help.”
Tsimanouskaya’s refusal to board the plane, initial reported by Reuters, highlighted discord in Belarus, a former Soviet state that is run with a tight grip by President Alexander Lukashenko.
On Monday, the IOC spokesperson mentioned it had taken a quantity of actions against Belarus’ Olympic Committee in the run up to the Games following nationwide protests in the nation.
In March, the IOC refused to recognise the election of Lukashenko’s son Viktor as head of the country’s Olympic Committee. Both father and son had been banned from attending the Games in December.
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