Belarusian female athlete refuses to return to Poland, Czech Republic, EU quickly gets involved

Original title: Belarusian female athletes refused to return to Poland, Czech Republic, EU quickly involved

(Observer News) According to a report from Kyodo News on August 2, a senior official of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that out of humanitarianism, the Belarusian athlete Christina Qi, who claimed that “the country’s delegation tried to forcibly return the coach for criticizing the coach” Krystsina Tsimanouskaya (Krystsina Tsimanouskaya) issued a visa and is expected to board a flight to Poland on Wednesday under the protection of the Japanese police.

Zimanusskaya has participated in the women’s 100-meter track and field preliminaries on July 30. He was originally scheduled to participate in the women’s 200-meter preliminaries on August 2 and the women’s 4×400-meter relay on the 5th.

According to reports, on the evening of the 1st, Zimanusskaya was protected by the Japanese police and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee at Haneda Airport, and entered the Polish Embassy in Tokyo on the 2nd. International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesperson Adams said at a press conference on the 2nd that he talked with Zimanusskaya on the evening of the 1st and on the morning of the 2nd and “supported her decision.” The Olympic Organizing Committee spokesperson Masatsu Takatani said: “He was seeking protection at Haneda Airport, so the Olympic Organizing Committee staff at the airport provided support.” Takatani emphasized that “(Christina･Zimanusskaya) is currently in a safe situation. middle”.

According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Monday (August 2nd), Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz stated that Poland will “take all necessary measures to help her continue her sports career”. Zimanusskaya’s husband has fled to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and will join her in Poland.

According to reports, the European Union agreed with Poland’s decision. A spokesperson for Josep Borrell, the head of the EU’s foreign and security policy agency, said that Belarus’ attempt to forcibly repatriate Timanovskaya was “another example of the brutal repression of the Lukashenko regime”.

In addition to Poland, the Czech Republic also extended a helping hand to this athlete. On August 2, local time, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek tweeted that Zimanusskaya had received the asylum offer from the Czech Republic and the Czech side would provide assistance as much as possible. .

Zimanusskaya, 24, claimed that she was kicked out of the team because of “talking about the negligence of our coach” on the social media Instagram.

Zimanusskaya posted a video on Instagram a few days ago, angry that he was unexpectedly asked to participate in the 4x400m relay race. Zimanusskaya was originally scheduled to participate in the women’s 200-meter track and field race on the 2nd. She complained that the originally scheduled 4×400-meter relay runners did not qualify for the competition because they did not receive sufficient doping tests, so the coach did not know her. Under the circumstances, let her participate, and she is not good at this distance.

After that, she made a public video claiming that she was “attempted to be sent back to her country against her will” and asked the International Olympic Committee to intervene in this matter. She also complained that she might go to jail if she returned to China. In addition, the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) claims to be supported by “Athletes who have been arrested and suppressed for participating in peaceful demonstrations, excluded from the national team, deprived of qualifications for competitions, or deprived of salary for expressing political views”. It is said that supporters of the Belarusian government have targeted Zimanusskaya, and that if Zimanusskaya returns to Belarus, his life will be in danger.

Regarding this incident, the head coach of the Belarusian national team told the Belarusian official media that the reason that Dimanovskaya was invited to participate in the 4x400m relay was to adjust the relay team. The reason for not immediately announcing this decision was to not disturb She prepares for battle. The White Olympic Committee announced that in view of Dimanovskaya’s emotional and psychological state, it decided to withdraw her from the competition on the advice of a doctor.

Zimanusskaya’s teammate and bronze medal-winning Belarusian high jumper Maksim Nedasekau revealed in an exclusive interview with News Corporation Australia that he does not support Zimanusskaya. Because she is always “provoking trouble” and “grumpy”, she is “the only negative person on the track team” and said that “the delegation did the right thing.”

The Belarusian elections in August 2020 triggered a wave of protests. Opponents tried to demand the resignation of Lukashenko, who was re-elected. Some athletes also joined them. According to reports, the International Olympic Committee made a decision to remove the country’s Olympic Committee from the activities of the International Olympic Committee in December last year around political interference with athletes.

Belarusian State Television reported on the 2nd that the country’s parliamentarian Utkin believed that Dimanovskaya’s behavior could not be characterized as a sporting behavior, which was a betrayal and shameful behavior for his teammates and the Belarusian people. Utkin said that the incident was a political action planned in advance.

According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on Monday, the International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said that the IOC may study the Belarusian National Olympic Games due to the incident of track and field athlete Kristina Dimanovskaya at Tokyo Airport. The Committee implements new sanctions.

As of press time, the Belarusian government has not yet commented on Poland’s decision.

Editor in charge: Zhu Xuesen SN240