News comes after the Belarusian athlete Kristina Timanovskaya was forced by Belarus Olympic Committee to return home from the Olympics.
She requested help at Tokyo airport after the failed attempt to send her back home. Since then she has been offered asylum in Poland after approaching Polish embassy in Tokyo and will fly to Warsaw on Wednesday.
Officials had gone to Ms Timanovskaya's room and given her an hour to pack her belongings before escorting her to Tokyo's Haneda airport. She claims she was "pressed" by team officials to return home and asked for help from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Belarusian committee said it had withdrawn her from the Games because of her “emotional and psychological state.”
Ms Timanovskaya, a 200-meter sprinter, expressed concern for her safety in Belarus after criticizing her coaches on Instagram for signing her up for the 4x100 relay, an event she had never trained for, without consulting her. The video sparked outrage in government media and television channels. As the Belarusian official television channels and even several national teammates turned against her, her parents warned her not to return home.
She will now be forced to live in exile for a long time. Officials in Poland have also suggested that she will be able to continue her sports career in Warsaw, where she will most likely rejoin with her husband. Her parents and grandmother are still in Klimavichy, where police is watching over them. The Belarusian state will continue to pursue her and those close to her.
Since an unprecedented wave of generally peaceful mass protests rocked the country following the disputed presidential election, athletes, along with protestors, journalists, human rights advocates, and political opposition figures, have been harassed and imprisoned in Belarus. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the dictatorial president since 1994, was the head of the Belarus National Olympic Committee for 23 years, and his son Viktor took over after he was forced to resign down in February.
Not only does Ms Timanouskaya's struggle illustrate that the revolution is going place under the cover of repression, but it also proves that it isn't over yet for the hundreds of activists in prison or exile.
Japan does not have a significant relationship with Belarus but this shows how national Olympic systems can assist rights-abusing governments.
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