The Japanese government has said a Belarus athlete is safe after she claimed her Olympic team tried to remove her from the country in a dispute that led to a stand-off at Tokyo’s main airport.
Activists supporting sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she believes her life is in danger in Belarus and that she will seek asylum with the Austrian embassy in Tokyo.
Japanese government spokesman Katsunobu Kato told reporters that Japan is cooperating with other organisations “to take appropriate measures”, and confirmed that Ms Tsimanouskaya is safe.
The foreign ministry said Japan is working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo Games organisers.
An official from a Belarusian activist group said the sprinter was seeking a Polish visa.
Vadim Krivosheyev of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation said that Ms Tsimanouskaya is at the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday.
He said the visa she is seeking would allow her to request political asylum in Poland.
Mr Krivosheyev said the foundation has bought her a ticket to Warsaw from Tokyo for August 4.
Ms Tsimanouskaya said in a filmed message distributed on social media that she was pressured by Belarus team officials and asked the IOC for help.
“I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent,” the 24-year-old runner said.
The regime’s hijack of the Ryanair plane was just the start of Lukashenka's international terror. They kidnapped Pratasevich & Sapega, they tried to kidnap Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsymanouskaya. I call on 🇯🇵 authorities & #IOC to ensure safety for all Belarusian athletes. pic.twitter.com/6y2tMsZTWU
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) August 1, 2021
Ms Tsimanouskaya, who is due to run in the Olympic 200-metre heats, criticised Belarus team officials on her Instagram account. She said she had been put in the 4×400 relay despite never racing in the event.
The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) said government supporters targeted the athlete, and Ms Tsimanouskaya contacted the group for help to avoid what she feared was a forced deportation to Minsk.
“The campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in Belarus,” Alexander Opeikin, a spokesman for the BSSF, told AP.
Ms Tsimanouskaya summoned Japanese police at Haneda Airport and did not board a flight departing for Istanbul. Foreign ministry officials arrived later at the airport, Mr Opeikin said.
In a statement released by the BSSF, Ms Tsimanouskaya said she was in a police station early on Monday morning.
“I explained the situation to a police officer of how I was taken from the Olympic Village,” she said.
“Now I am in a secure situation and am figuring out the question of where I will spend the night.”
The IOC, which has been in dispute with the Belarus National Olympic Committee (NOC) ahead of the Tokyo Games, said it had intervened.
“The IOC … is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC for clarification,” it said in a statement.
Kristina Timanovskaya will soon apply to the Polish Embassy in Tokyo @PLinTokyo with a request to issue her a national visa.
Pavel Latushka reached an agreement on this with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland @marcin_przydacz Martin Przydac. #FreeBelarus ⚪️🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/JOjCKhpDwL— Pavel Latushka (@PavelLatushka) August 2, 2021
Belarus’ neighbour, Poland, where many critics of the Minsk regime have come to live, offered help to Ms Tsimanouskaya.
Deputy foreign minister Marcin Przydacz said on Twitter that Ms Tsimanouskaya has been offered a “humanitarian visa and is free to pursue her sporting career in Poland if she so chooses”.
The Belarus NOC has been led for more than 25 years by authoritarian state president Alexander Lukashenko and his son, Viktor.
Both Lukashenkos are banned from the Tokyo Olympics by the IOC, which investigated complaints from athletes that they faced reprisals and intimidation after protests over the country’s disputed presidential election since last August.
A spokeswoman for the Belarus Olympic team did not respond to a request for comment.
Ms Tsimanouskaya was taken to a safe place and would ask for asylum from the Austrian embassy, Mr Opeikin said.
Ms Tsimanouskaya has already competed for Belarus on the first day of track events on Friday at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
She placed fourth in her first-round heat in the 100 metres, timing 11.47 seconds, and did not advance.
