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TOKYO (AP) – Two Belarusian team coaches have been pulled from the Olympics, four days after trying to send sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya back to their country.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Friday that it had canceled and withdrawn the credentials of Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich.
“Both coaches were asked to leave the Olympic Village immediately and did so,” said the IOC.
This was done on an interim basis during a formal investigation “in the interest of the well-being of the athletes,” said the Olympic body.
Shimak and Maisevich have continued to have contact with Belarusian athletes since Sunday after the IOC linked them with the idea of taking Tsimanouskaya by car to the airport to put her on a plane to Belarus.
Tsimanouskaya had criticized the team coaches on social media and is now in Poland on a humanitarian visa.
The IOC said Shimak and Maisevich “will be offered the opportunity to be heard” by its disciplinary commission investigating the case.
It was not clear whether the men remained in Japan or will move to Belarus, an authoritarian former Soviet republic that relentlessly pursues its critics.
Belarus has been in turmoil for a year since Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth presidential term after a state election widely seen as rigged in his favor.
Lukashenko also headed the Belarusian Olympic Committee from the 1990s until this year. His son, Viktor, was elected to replace him.
The IOC banned the two Lukashenkos from attending the Tokyo Olympics after investigating complaints from athletes who faced retaliation and intimidation during a post-election security crackdown.
Alexander Lukashenko was unable to attend the London Olympics in 2012 due to a visa ban imposed by the European Union in a previous crackdown that followed a contested election.
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More AP: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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