Belarus athlete will fly to Poland after refusing orders to go home

A Belarusian athlete who took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo after refusing her team’s orders to fly home from the Olympic Games will travel to Poland on Wednesday, a group of her supporters said.

Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was granted a humanitarian visa by the Warsaw government. She had earlier refused to get on a flight home, saying she had been taken to the airport against her will by Belarusian officials because she had criticised her team’s coaching staff.

“She will fly from Tokyo, a direct flight to Warsaw on August 4, in two days’ time,” said Aleksandr Opeykin, chairman of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation.

“She has accepted the offer issued by the Polish Foreign Ministry to request international help, she has done that and she has received a Polish visa today. We, at the Foundation, helped her to get the ticket to Warsaw,” Opeykin told Reuters.

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.

via Reuters