London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Belarus Athlete At Tokyo Granted Polish Visa After Refusing To Go Home

Belarus Athlete At Tokyo Granted Polish Visa After Refusing To Go Home

Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya plans to leave for Poland in the coming days, said Polish deputy foreign minister Marcin Przydacz.
A Belarusian athlete who took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday, a day after refusing her team's orders to board a flight home from the Olympic Games, has been granted a humanitarian visa by the Warsaw government.

Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya plans to leave for Poland in the coming days, a Polish deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, told Reuters.

She is "safe and in good condition" after walking into the embassy on Monday morning, he said. Another deputy foreign minister, Pawel Jablonski, said: "I can confirm that we have issued a humanitarian visa. I can confirm that we will provide all necessary support in Poland if she wishes to use it."

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, had been due to compete in the women's 200 metre heats on Monday but said that on Sunday she was taken to the airport to board a Turkish Airlines flight. She refused to board the flight, telling Reuters: "I will not return to Belarus." The incident has put renewed attention on the political discord in Belarus, a former Soviet state that is run by President Alexander Lukashenko. Police there have cracked down on dissent following a wave of protests triggered by an election last year which the opposition says was rigged to keep him in power. The athlete pulled up in front of the Polish embassy in an unmarked silver van about 5 pm local time (0800 GMT). She stepped out with her official team luggage, and then greeted two officials before entering the premises. Two women, one carrying the red and white flag seen as the symbol of opposition in Belarus, came to the gates to support her. Her husband, Arseni Zhdanevich, will join her in Poland, a Warsaw-based Belarusian opposition politician said. "Thanks to the support of the Belarusian Athletes' Solidarity Foundation, (Tsimanouskaya's) husband is in Kiev and he will join Krystsina," Pavel Latushko told Reuters. Zhdanevich had already entered Ukraine, a Ukrainian interior ministry source said. Tsimanouskaya told a Reuters reporter via Telegram that the Belarusian head coach had turned up at her room on Sunday at the athletes' village and told her she had to leave. "The head coach came over to me and said there had been an order from above to remove me," she wrote in the message.

"At 5 (pm) they came to my room and told me to pack and they took me to the airport."

But she refused to board and sought the protection of Japanese police. Tsimanouskaya said she had been removed from the team as she had spoken out about what she described as the negligence of their coaches. She had complained on Instagram that she was entered in the 4x400 m relay after some team members were found to be ineligible to compete at the Olympics because they had not undergone sufficient doping tests. "And the coach added me to the relay without my knowledge," Tsimanouskaya said.

The Belarusian Olympic Committee said coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors' advice about her "emotional, psychological state". Belarus athletics head coach Yuri Moisevich told state television he "could see there was something wrong with her. She either secluded herself or didn't want to talk".

Earlier on Monday, International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said officials would continue conversations with Tsimanouskaya and had asked for a full report from the Belarus Olympic committee. The Japanese government said she had been kept safe while Tokyo 2020 organisers and the IOC checked her intentions."

Japan is coordinating with relevant parties and continues to take appropriate action," said chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato.

The United States ambassador to Belarus, Julie Fisher, said Lukashenko's government had tried to discredit and humiliate Tsimanouskaya for expressing her views, and she praised the Japanese and Polish authorities for their quick action.The IOC spokesperson also said it had taken a number of actions against Belarus' Olympic Committee in the run up to the Games following nationwide protests in the country. In March, the IOC refused to recognise the election of Lukashenko's son Viktor as head of the country's Olympic Committee.

Both father and son were banned from attending the Games in December.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×