IOC says Belarus sprinter 'safe and secure' with Japanese, U.N. officials after refusing to leave Tokyo Olympics

Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who says top officials in her country tried to force her to return home from Tokyo on Sunday, is "safe and secure" in the care of Japanese and United Nations refugee officials, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said Monday. Officials in Poland and the Czech Republic have offered to help Tsimanouskaya, 24, but Reuters reports she plans to request asylum in Germany or Austria.
Tsimanouskaya says Belarusian Olympic staff abruptly told her to pack her bags on Sunday, after she publicly criticized Belarus' national coaches. She refused to board the flight and asked the IOC to get involved. The IOC has asked for a full written report on the matter from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee, which said in a statement it had pulled Tsimanouskaya from the Tokyo Olympics due to her "emotional and psychological state." Tsimanouskaya called that statement "a lie."
Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has been harshly cracking down on dissent, and Tsimanouskaya suggested he or other top Belarusian officials had ordered or at least approved her attempted abduction. The head of Belarus' NOC, Viktor Lukashenko, is Alexander Lukashenko's son, Reuters reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial unease
Speed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
October 8 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include evidence* of what causes autism, Donald Trump's enemy within and a CBS sacrifice
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US