A Belarusian sprinter contending at the Tokyo Olympics published a video on Sunday naming the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to support her to avert being retreated to her nation against her will.
Athlete Kristina Timanovskaya explained in the brief video broadcasted on social media: “I was put under stress and they are attempting to forcibly carry me out of the nation without my approval. I beg the IOC to interfere. “It appeared online after Timanovskaya was notified she will no longer be able to contest for Belarus and that she must retreat to the capital, Minsk, shortly, announced Anatol Kota, of the Belarus Sports Solidarity Foundation.
The organization portrays Belarusian athletes suppressed by Belarusian councils. Kota, who is in explicit connection with Timanovskaya, explained that at roughly 3 p.m. (2 a.m. ET) on Sunday, envoys of the Belarus national squad came to the Olympic village and interrogated her to “pack her belongings as a verdict had been prepared for her to withdraw to Minsk.”
“I am worried that I might be incarcerated in Belarus,” Timanovskaya announced in a conference with the Belarusian sports news website Tribuna on Sunday. “I am not worried about being expelled or thrown out of the national team. I’m apprehensive about my security. And I believe that at the time it was not safe for me in Belarus. I didn’t do anything, but they coerced me of the liberty to partake in the 200-meter race and needed to transfer me home.”
She did not document precisely what she is worried about she would be jailed over, but her suspicion of retaliation comes after she spoke out against national sporting councils. Kota explained that as shortly as Timanovskaya entered the terminal, she approached a Japanese police officer and told them she would want to refer herself for political asylum.
The Belarusian National Olympic Committee asserted on Sunday that Timanovskaya was revoked from the Tokyo Games due to her “subjective and psychological state.”
