https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/01/sport/belarus-kristina-timanovskaya-removed-olympics-airport-intl/index.htmlA Belarusian sprinter competing at the Tokyo Olympics released a video on Sunday calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to help her avoid being returned to her native country against her will.
Athlete Kristina Timanovskaya said in the short video released on social media: "I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent. I ask the IOC to intervene."
It appeared online after Timanovskaya was told she will no longer be able to compete for Belarus and that she must return to the capital, Minsk, immediately, said Anatol Kotau, of the Belarus Sports Solidarity Foundation. The group represents Belarusian athletes repressed by Belarusian authorities.
Kotau, who is in direct contact with Timanovskaya, said that at around 3 p.m. (2 a.m. ET) on Sunday, representatives of the Belarus national team came to the Olympic village and asked her to "pack her belongings as a decision had been made for her to return to Minsk."
"I am afraid that I might be jailed in Belarus," Timanovskaya said in an interview with the Belarusian sports news site Tribuna on Sunday. "I am not afraid of being fired or kicked out of the national team. I'm concerned about my safety. And I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus. I didn't do anything, but they deprived me of the right to participate in the 200 meter race and wanted to send me home."
She did not detail exactly what she feared she would be jailed over, but her fear of reprisal comes after she spoke out against national sporting authorities.
Timanovskaya is currently at Haneda International Airport police station, Kotau told CNN by phone. Kotau added that the athlete was scheduled to be on flight TK0199 to Istanbul, departing at 10:50 p.m. Tokyo time.
