The Olympic sprinter whom Belarusian authorities tried to order home from the Tokyo Games was persuaded to seek refuge abroad by her family, who said it was not safe to return.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she had hesitated about whether to rebuff instructions to return to Belarus after a fallout with the team management during the Games.
Stoney-faced and dressed in black, she said she had been told to feign an injury and fly home but decided to defy the authorities after her grandmother called to say she “must not come back to Belarus”.
Protests against the country’s dictator erupted last year after a rigged election to extend his 26 years in power. Since then there has been a brutal and extensive crackdown on critics and dissent.
Tsimanouskaya, 24, said that her husband, Arseni Zdanevich, had also received a humanitarian visa allowing him to stay in Poland. He was due to arrive later today and wanted to find a job.
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“I wasn’t thinking about applying for political asylum. I chose Poland because it reacted very quickly, it offered me the possibility of continuing my career and security,” she said, adding that she hoped its proximity to her homeland would make it easier for her parents to visit. She said she was “surprised that the situation became such a political scandal because it started out as a sporting issue”.
The previous evening Tsimanouskaya was greeted by Polish officials at the airport after arriving from Japan via Vienna.
Mateusz Morawiecki, 53, the prime minister, welcomed the Belarusian athlete to “a safe country of freedom and solidarity” on social media.
“I am also happy to be here, happy to be in safety,” Tsimanouskaya said. “I will be ready to come back to Belarus once I am convinced that my possible stay would be a safe one.”
She said she hoped to continue her career in Poland, which was the first country to respond to her request for assistance. Holding up a T-shirt saying “I just want to run”, Tsimanouskaya said: “I am very frustrated that I have been deprived of the opportunity to take part in the Olympic Games.” She hoped to be able to compete at two future Games and vowed to do “everything to get back in shape and continue my career”.
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Poland has become an increasingly important base for political and economic migrants fleeing Belarus. In the past 11 months 6,200 Belarusians have asked Poland for humanitarian visas and 1,500 for international protection, with the vast majority already approved, making them the largest minority to seek asylum there.
Tsimanouskaya will meet officials at the Polish sports ministry tomorrow for talks. She would like to continue training with her coach in Austria.
