The Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanowskaja apparently changed her itinerary shortly before her planned departure from Tokyo and is on her way to Vienna instead of Warsaw. The threatened athlete will probably travel to Poland.
The Belarusian Olympic participant Kristina Timanowskaja has flown from Tokyo Airport to Vienna. The 24-year-old was supposed to take a direct flight to Poland, but got on a plane to Austria at the last minute on Wednesday, according to an airport official. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the establishment of a disciplinary commission to investigate the case of the sprinter, who claims to fear persecution in Belarus.
Timanowskaya is expected to travel on from Vienna to Warsaw. Poland had issued her with a humanitarian visa. Warsaw will do everything “that is necessary to help her continue her sports career,” said Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz. Timanovskaya’s husband, Arseni Zdanewitsch, also claims to have fled the authoritarian-ruled Belarus and is currently in Ukraine.
According to media reports, the athlete should be included. “We expected her. It is up to her what she decides,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg to the newspaper “Die Presse”. The Austrian embassy in Tokyo was prepared to help Timanovskaya. However, this did not report.
Criticism of sports officials
The 24-year-old sprinter had criticized the Belarusian sports officials in online media for having been lined up for the 4×400-meter race instead of the 200-meter run at the Olympic Games in Japan without consulting her. The Belarusian National Olympic Committee (NOK) then declared that Timanovskaya would be eliminated from the competition because of her “emotional and psychological state”.
The athlete denied claims about her condition and asked the IOC for help: “I’m under pressure and they’re trying to get me out of the country against my will,” she said in a video. She spent the night of Monday under protection in an airport hotel in Tokyo, after which the Polish embassy in the Japanese capital granted her protection.
IOC wants to “clarify facts”
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that a disciplinary committee had been set up to “clarify the facts” in the case. The IOC had received a report from the Belarusian Olympic Committee, which was now being “evaluated”. Activists had previously called for the Belarusian committee to be expelled and its athletes to compete as neutral athletes.
The Belarusian authorities have been cracking down on critics of the government for months. Last year, mass protests after the controversial re-election of ruler Alexander Lukashenko were brutally suppressed.
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