Belarusian Olympic sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya made one ‘mistake’ that her country could not abide – she criticized her coaches for her entering her in a race that she had never run before.  For that indiscretion – however justified – the Belarus Olympic Committee said she had an “emotional and psychological condition” and told her she must leave Tokyo and head home. On Monday, they brought her to the airport, but Timanovskaya refused to board her plane and asked the Japanese police for protection (watch above).

“I am afraid that in Belarus they might put me in jail,” Timanovskaya told the independent Belarusian news portal Zerkalo.io. “I am not afraid that I will be fired or kicked out of the national team, I am worried about my safety. And I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus.”

Later in the day, Poland issued a humanitarian visa to Timanovskaya. “Poland will do whatever is necessary to help her to continue her sporting career. [Poland] always stands for solidarity,” tweeted Poland’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marcin Przydacz.

Reuters reported that Timanovskaya had been seen entering the Polish embassy.

The 24-year-old sprinter was preparing to compete in the 200-meter race. But Belarusian officials told her she’d run the 4×400-meter relay because some of her teammates were disqualified for failing to take the requisite number of anti-doping tests.

Timanovskaya bristled at the last-minute change on social media. “I would never in my life begin to react so harshly if they would come up to me in advance, explain the situation and find out if I can run 400 meters and I am ready? But they decided to do everything behind my back despite the fact that I tried to find out this information but was only ignored,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Friday.

“(Team officials) started calling me with threats and demanding to delete the video if I want to go ahead in sports. At first, I refused to delete it for a long time, but then I did it, so that they stop calling me,” she later explained.

Belarusian officials claim a doctor was dispatched to examine Timanovskaya.

“According to the doctors’ conclusion, due to the emotional and psychological state of the Belarusian track and field athlete Kristina Timanovskaya, the coaching staff of the national track and field team decided to stop the athlete’s performance at the Games of the XXXII Olympics,” the Belarusian committee said in a statement on their Facebook page.

But Timanovskaya described that version of events as “nonsense.”

“No doctors came up to me. No one examined me,” she said. “I have a good psychological state, even despite the fact that such a situation was going on. I am holding up normally, I have no health problems, no traumas, no mental issues. I was ready to run.”

The New York Times describes what happened next:

She told Zerkalo.io that on Sunday, her coaches and a representative of the national team had come to her room and told her to pack her things. She said she was told that if she did not return, she would lose her position on the national team, be deprived of work and face “possibly other consequences.” She said she was told that the decision was not made by the athletic federation or the Ministry of Sports, “but at a higher level.”

“They said I need to be eliminated from the Olympics and returned home because I interfere with the team’s performance,” she told Zerkalo.io.

The Belarusian National Olympic Committee is run by Victor Lukashenko, the son of the country’s repressive strongman, Aleksander Lukashenko, who’s ruled the country with an iron fist for 27-years. But the International Olympic Committee refuses to recognize Victor’s leadership, saying he has “not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination.”

The BBC summarizes the Lukashenkos repression:

Government forces brutally cracked down after hundreds of thousands protested about the [disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential] election. Some of those who took part were also national-level athletes, who were stripped of funding, cut from national teams and detained for demonstrating.

In a statement to CNN, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya lambasted Lukashenko and praised Timanovskaya:

“The regime is continuously testing boundaries. Its terror is not limited to Belarus borders anymore. First, it hijacked the airplane flying from one EU capital to another one. Now, it is kidnapping its citizens in other sovereign state’s territory during a significant sports event. It is the result of the impunity of the regime,” Tikhanovskaya told CNN on Monday.
“No doubt, Kristina Timanovskaya is our hero; she found the courage to speak out and faced repressions for her bravery. We should express solidarity and stand with her. We will be asking for international protection for her, as well as an investigation of the incident. All perpetrators must be punished and eliminated from [participating] in any international events. Unfortunately, this case is also a sign that not a single Belarusian who has left the borders of Belarus is safe.”
“On the other hand, this is also a sign that the regime is fragile, insecure,” Tikhanovskaya added. “I hope it is also a sign of the upcoming and inevitable collapse of the regime.”