The International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that it was waiting for a report later in the day. Belarusian The National Olympic Committee Sprinter Case Christina Zimanusskaya, After investigating the incident that shocked the country game.
The athlete took refuge at the Polish Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. A day later she refused her team’s order and boarded the flight home from the Olympics. Warsaw provided her with a humanitarian visa.
Olympian Christina Zimanusskaya seeks asylum in Poland during the confrontation with Belarus
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told reporters that the agency spoke with the athlete twice on Monday, saying that she was in a safe place and the IOC needed to know all the facts before taking further action.
“We look forward to and require the Belarusian National Olympic Committee to submit a report today,” Adams said, adding that the IOC is still collecting facts.
“We want (report) today. We have decided to start a formal investigation. We need to determine all the facts. We need to listen to all relevant people.”
When asked whether the International Olympic Committee will make a decision on the matter during the Olympics, Adams said he could not estimate how long the investigation would take.
“It obviously takes time. We need to understand it in depth. I don’t know how long it will take,” he said.
Zimanusskaya, 24, was originally scheduled to participate in the women’s 200-meter preliminaries on Monday, but she said that she was taken out of the athlete’s village room on Sunday and was driven to the airport to board the flight home after criticizing team officials. .
“I will not come back”: Belarusian Olympian said she was taken to the airport against her wishes
This incident has aroused people’s attention to Belarus. After last year’s election triggered a wave of protests, the Belarusian police suppressed dissidents. The opposition claimed that the election was to keep Lukashenko in power.
“We have also contacted the Polish National Olympic Committee. As for what the IOC can do for her future, we have talked to them about her sport. After he arrived in Warsaw, if that was indeed her choice. Where it ends,” Adams said.
In March, the International Olympic Committee refused to recognize Lukashenko’s son Victor as elected chairman of the country’s Olympic Committee. In December, both father and son were banned from participating in the Olympics.
US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken criticized Belarus for trying to send Zimanusskaya home. “This kind of behavior violates the Olympic spirit, is an insult to fundamental rights, and cannot be tolerated,” Brinken wrote on Twitter late Monday.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Himani Sarkar and Lincoln Feast.)
