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- The IOC launched an investigation after Tsimanouskaya refused to board a flight back home over fears she might be jailed.
- The Belarusian National Olympic Committee must submit a report to the IOC on the case of sprinter Tsimanouskaya.
- An IOC spokesman said she's currently in a safe place, and the sporting body has spoken to her twice.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is awaiting a report from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee on its handling of sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, reported Reuters.
The IOC launched an investigation after Tsimanouskaya refused to board a plane home from the Tokyo Games. Tsimanouskaya said she feared being jailed in Belarus after criticizing her coaches on social media.
Her coaches refused to allow her to compete in the event she'd come to Tokyo for – the 200-meter dash – and she asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport for an interim ruling to allow her to race. On Tuesday, the court announced they'd deny her request.
She also said that she was put into the 4×4 100-meter race by her coaches without her consent.
Poland later offered the 24-year-old sprinter a humanitarian visa.
"We are expecting and have asked for a report from the National Olympic Committee of Belarus for today," spokesman Mark Adams said. "We have decided to launch a formal investigation. We need to establish the full facts. We need to hear everyone involved."
The IOC spoke to Tsimanouskaya twice on Monday, said Adams, adding that she was in a safe place, per Reuters. The runner was seen at the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday night.
The IOC has also contacted Poland's National Olympic committee about the sprinter's future if and when she goes to Poland.
"We have also now contacted the NOC of Poland. In terms of what the IOC can do for her future, we have talked to them with regard to her sport, after her arrival in Warsaw if that is indeed where she chooses to end up," Adams said, per Reuters.
Tsimanouskaya is expected to fly to Poland on Wednesday, per the AP. Her husband and child have already fled to Ukraine, Reuters reported.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Belarus' attempt to send Tsimanouskaya home against her will an act of "transnational repression" on Twitter.
Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko's regime, he wrote, "sought to commit another act of transnational repression: attempting to force Olympian Krystsyna Tsimanouskaya to leave simply for exercising free speech. Such actions violate the Olympic spirit, are an affront to basic rights, and cannot be tolerated."
Lukashenko has held an iron grip on Belarus for the last two decades. In 2020, he rigged an election and declared that he won 80% of the vote, naming himself president for a sixth term. His administration has
Earlier this year, there was international outrage after the Belarusan military forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing to arrest an opposition journalist on board.
On Tuesday, a Belarusian activist, who helped people fleeing repression in Belarus, was found dead in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainian police have launched an investigation, reported Euro News.
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