EXCLUSIVE Belarusian sprinter decided to defect on his way to airport due to family fears about safety

WARSAW, Aug. 5 (Reuters) – Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya decided to defect as she was driven to a Tokyo airport because her grandmother told her it was not safe to go home in Belarus.

In an exclusive interview with Reuters in Warsaw on Thursday, she said her family feared she would be sent to a psychiatric ward if she returned to Belarus, and that her grandmother had called her to tell her not to return. .

“I have always been far from politics, I did not sign any letter, I did not participate in any demonstration, I did not say anything against the Belarusian government,” she said.

“I’m a sportsman and I haven’t understood anything about politics. I try not to do anything other than a sport in my life and I do my best not to be distracted by politics.”

“It might sound cruel because of all the terrible things that happened in Belarus last summer, but I was trying to steer clear of it, but all I wanted was to go to the Games Olympics and do my best, ”she said, referring to the protests. last year against President Alexander Lukashenko which led to a police crackdown.

“I wanted to be in the final and compete for medals.”

The 24-year-old was all the rage on Sunday when she said coaches angry with her critics ordered her to return home from Tokyo. After seeking protection from the Japanese police, she flew to Poland on Wednesday instead of Belarus.

Poland, which has long criticized Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime and is home to many Belarusian activists, has granted Tsimanouskaya and her husband humanitarian visas. But her grandmother stays at home.

“Grandma called me when they were already driving me to the airport,” said the athlete. “Literally I had about 10 seconds. She called me, all she said was, ‘Please don’t come back to Belarus, it’s not sure.’

“That’s it, she hung up,” she said. “I would like to go back to Belarus. I love my country. I haven’t betrayed it and I hope I can go back.”

‘I AM NOT AFRAID’

The Tsimanouskaya saga, reminiscent of Cold War sports defections, threatens to further isolate Lukashenko, who is under Western sanctions after a crackdown on his opponents since last year.

The sprinter, who had criticized the negligence of her team coaches, spent two nights at the Polish embassy in Japan before flying to Vienna and then Warsaw on Wednesday.

Belarus’ National Olympic Committee (NOC) said coaches removed Tsimanouskaya from the Games on the advice of doctors regarding his emotional and psychological state. He did not immediately respond to requests for further comment on Thursday.

Tsimanouskaya said she told her coach on Sunday that she was ready to run in the 200 meters, but then he went to make a call.

“And in a few hours the head coach came to see me with the team representative and they told me there was a decision to send me home, it was not us who took the decision, we are just executing it. You have 40 minutes. You have to pack your bags and go to the airport, “she said.

The decision, she said, came from “above.”

At Tokyo airport, coaches were taken by surprise, the athlete said.

“They didn’t expect that at the airport I could approach the police. They think that we are afraid to move, that we are afraid to speak, afraid to tell the truth to the whole world. But I don’t be afraid, ”he added. she said.

“I am not one of those people who are afraid. I always stick for the truth. I respect myself. I respect my job. And I also want others to respect themselves, respect their work and stop being afraid and start to talk openly about what worries them. “

Upon entering Tokyo, Tsimanouskaya was not among the few Belarusian Olympians to have publicly expressed their support for the opposition to Lukashenko.

Opposition figures have been prosecuted, jailed or on the run since major anti-government protests against Lukashenko began before he won a sixth presidential term in an election which observers and critics say has been rigged . He denies electoral fraud.

The crackdown has also extended to elite athletes. Some, including former Olympic basketball player Yelena Leuchanka and decathlete Andrei Krauchanka, have been jailed.

The sport plays a prominent role in Belarusian politics under Lukashenko, an ice hockey player and cross-country skier known for participating in televised races in which his opponents fall before crossing the finish line. Lukashenko personally headed the Belarusian Olympic committee until he was replaced by his son this year. His website quotes him as saying “Sport is our ideology”.

The International Olympic Committee has opened an investigation into Tsimanouskaya’s case and said it will hear from the two Belarusian officials allegedly involved.

Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Tom Balfmorth, Additional reporting by Maria Vasilyeva, Tatyana Gomozova and Angelina Kazakova in Moscow, Writing by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.