Sports
IOC awaiting report from Belarusian Olympic committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday it was waiting for a report later from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee on the case of sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya.
The IOC said this would be after an investigation into an incident which has rocked the ongoing Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The athlete took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday, after refusing her team’s orders to board a flight home from the Olympic Games.
Poland has since offered her a humanitarian visa.
IOC spokesman, Mark Adams, told reporters the body had spoken to the athlete twice on Monday and she was in “a safe, secure place”.
He said the IOC needed to know all the facts before taking further action.
“We are expecting and have asked for a report from the National Olympic Committee of Belarus for today (Tuesday),” Adams said, adding the IOC was still gathering the facts.
“We want it (report) today. We have decided to launch a formal investigation. We need to establish the full facts. We need to hear everyone involved.”
Asked whether an IOC decision on the matter would come during the Games, Adams said it was not possible to estimate how long the investigation would take.
“That obviously can take time. We need to get to the bottom of it. How long that will take I do not know,” he said.
Tsimanouskaya, 24, was due to compete in the women’s 200 metres heats on Monday,
But she was taken out of her room in the athletes’ village to the airport to board a flight home after criticising team officials.
The incident has focused attention on Belarus, where police have cracked down on dissent following a wave of protests triggered by an election in 2020.
“We have also 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,” Adams said.
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.
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