Belarus runner alleges Olympic team tried to send her home

Just cause trouble at the ticket gate and the captain will ban you from boarding.

The Japanese authorities are taking care of her while she decides her next move.

She'd better hurry up or it will be rice and miso three times a day in a detention centre.

Didn't Belarus force a Ryanair flight to land recently to remove a journalist? Not exactly a friendly place at the moment.

Tsimanouskaya, who is due to run in the Olympic 200-meter heats Monday, criticized Belarus team officials on her Instagram account. She said she'd been put in the 4x400 relay despite never racing the event.

The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation said government supporters targeted the athlete, and Tsimanouskaya contacted the group for help to avoid what she feared was a forced deportation to Minsk.

"The campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in Belarus," Alexander Opeikin, a spokesman for the BSSF, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Belarus abducting yet another person against their will

Hmmm........... where have we heard that before..............

(hint Kolesnikova hint Protasevich hint)

due to run in the Olympic 200-meter heats Monday…she'd been put in the 4x400 relay

Yes, that sounds very much like a dangerous situation caused by a killer dictatorship. lol It’s like for example your restaurant boss saying, look , you don’t peel some carrots today, you’ll have to peel the potatoes together with all your colleagues because we just need many potatoes today. You surely should sue your boss or even flee the country in that case. lol She’s just crazy, that’s all. Think for yourself, If she really was on dictator Lukashenko’s black list, she wouldn’t have made it into any sports career, sports team or even leave the country for Olympics.

Japan has to be careful as to what they do with the athletes seeking asylum.

They go easy on one, flood gates will open and thousands will be lining up for asylum.

seems like the Japanese Olympic committee did not do enough research.

Belarus is an evil, totalitarian Russian ally. No wonder the poor girl doesn't want to return.

Hmm. A smart 24 year old. I believe she already planned to escape from Belarus before arrival in Japan. The order from her team official was a bonus excuse for her to create situation to her benefits.

Best of luck to her. I hope she is not forced back to her country.

If Japan helps her as far as possible and she then gets to go to a friendly country, that's a PR win for Japan (which they badly need, with the games being pilloried by most foreign media) and a win for the athlete. Seems like the optimum outcome for all concerned. Except Belarus, of course, but...

due to run in the Olympic 200-meter heats Monday… she'd been put in the 4x400 relay

Yes, that sounds very much like a dangerous situation caused by a killer dictatorship. lol It’s like for example your restaurant boss saying, look , you don’t peel some carrots today, you’ll have to peel the potatoes together with all your colleagues because we just need many potatoes today.

In running, ya don't put a shorter-distance runner to a longer distance race that she never trained for (it's easier to do it the other way around - putting a longer-distance runner to a shorter distance race)

So it's not the equivalent of peeling carrots or potatoes, both of which requires similar effort. A 200m runner being put on a 400m race she hasn't prepared for, requires a lot more effort on her part. Add to that she has her own 200m race to do

What they should had done, if they don't already have an alternate, is ask one of their longer distance runners (maybe a 800m runner) to go down to 400m. But by trying to sabotage their 200m runner, this sounds more like a setup to get her to fail in both the 400m relay leg and her own 200m race

Make sure that flight goes nowhere near Belarus airspace. Hell, in her position, I wouldn't even risk going through Russian airspace. Either go via Middle East and then Western Europe, or take the long American route.