WARSAW – Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya decided to defect as she was being driven to a Tokyo airport because her grandmother told her that it was not safe to return home to Belarus.
Reuters: Belarusian sprinter decided to defect on way to airport over safety fears
Belarus athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya waves goodbye as she boards her Vienna-bound flight at Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, outside Tokyo on August 4, 2021, after travelling from the Polish embassy where she had spent the past two nights following claims her team tried to force her to return home after she criticised her coaches during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
