A Belarusian Olympic sprinter who said a feud with team officials made her feel she could not safely return home arrived in Austria on Wednesday, part of a journey that could see her settle in Europe to avoid reprisals from her authoritarian government.
After a stopover in Vienna, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is expected to travel to Poland, which granted her a humanitarian visa. In a dramatic standoff at the Tokyo Games, the runner said team officials tried to force her to fly home early after she criticized them, and some European countries stepped in to offer assistance.
It’s not clear what’s next for the 24-year-old — either in her sporting life or her personal one. Before she left Japan, she said she hoped to continue her running career but that safety was her immediate priority. Her husband fled Belarus shortly after his wife said she would not be returning, and Poland has also offered him a visa.
“We are very happy that she is here safe,” said Magnus Brunner, a top Austrian government official, after Tsimanouskaya’s plane arrived on Wednesday afternoon from Tokyo. “But she is scared about her future and about her family.”
At the airport, the runner was protected by Austrian police officers, public broadcaster ORF reported. Brunner said she has not asked for asylum in Austria. She was expected to head to Warsaw later Wednesday, according to an activist with a group that has been supporting her.
Tsimanouskaya flew first to Austria instead of directly to Poland on the advice of Polish authorities for security reasons, said Vadim Krivosheyev, of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation.
The drama began after Tsimanouskaya’s criticism of how officials were managing her team set off a massive backlash in state-run media in Belarus, where the government has relentlessly stifled any criticism. The runner said on Instagram that she was put in the 4×400 relay even though she has never raced in the event. She was then barred from competing in the 200 meters.
She accused team officials of hustling her to the airport — but she refused to board a plane home.
The officials “made it clear that, upon return home, I would definitely face some form of punishment,” Tsimanouskaya told the AP in a videocall from Tokyo on Tuesday. “There were also thinly disguised hints that more would await me.”
The sprinter called on international sports authorities “to investigate the situation, who gave the order, who actually took the decision that I can’t compete anymore.” She suggested possible sanctions against the head coach.
Reached by phone, Dzmitry Dauhalionak, the head of Belarus’ delegation at the Tokyo Olympics, declined to comment.
The standoff has drawn more attention to Belarus’ uncompromising authoritarian government. When the country was rocked by months of protests following a presidential election that the opposition and the West saw as rigged, authorities responded by arresting some 35,000 people and beating thousands of demonstrators.
(With AP inputs)