widthHen Belarusian officials Attempt to block sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya And tied her on the flight back to Minsk, and a special organization that protects Belarusian athletes from repression stepped in to help.
The Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) supports athletes, coaches and other sports professionals who are under pressure because they oppose Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus Since 1994, he may have been the victim of his extensive and brutal suppression of dissidents.
Although this seems to be a niche calling, in the following year The protests against Lukashenko beganThe organization stated that more than 120 athletes, coaches and sports professionals have been fired, withdrawn from the competition or otherwise punished because they were deemed to have objections.
“For Lukashenko, sports are a propaganda tool,” said Aliaksandr Apeikin, executive director of BSSF. She is in touch with Tsimanouskaya because her initial conflict with the coach snowballed into a hate sport in the country. The TV station demonized her. “This is an element of national politics, just like in East Germany or the Soviet Union.”
The BSSF was established in 2020 after more than 250 athletes signed an open letter condemning fraud in the election, which allowed Lukashenko to receive his sixth term, as well as imposing on Belarusians who protested the official results. Excessive violence, including torture.
As the number of signatories surged to more than 2,000, more athletes were eliminated for expressing dissent.
“When athletes started participating in protests, [Lukashenko] Very scared,” Apekin said, noting their influence as public figures.
One of the influential figures is Aleksandra Herasimenia (Aleksandra Herasimenia), a former swimmer of the group. In an interview, she said that a key message of the organization is “Athletes are not slaves. They have the right to have their own views and positions…Sports is part of politics. It has always been part of politics.”
The three-time Olympic medalist had to leave Belarus with his family and family.As the target of criminal charges Because she opposes the government.
But she said that positive reactions outweighed negative reactions. “Throughout my entire sports career, I have not received so many positive responses, just like I said my position, so to speak, join the ranks of people,” she said.
The organization provides legal and financial assistance to athletes, provides outreach services to management agencies such as the International Olympic Committee, and also tries to prevent Lukashenko from washing his reputation by attracting major events to the country.The organization also launched a Free marathon On Saturday, it supported more than 35,000 Belarusians who have been in prison since the beginning of the 2020 protests.
One of its greatest successes was lobbying for sanctions against the National Olympic Committee of Belarus and helping to persuade the International Ice Hockey Federation to deprive Belarus of its qualifications to participate in the 2021 World Ice Hockey Championship.
“Holding the championship will legitimize Lukashenko,” Apekin said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”
Athletes are vulnerable because in Belarus, sports and politics are closely related, and many clubs and teams there are run or funded by the state. Lukashenko personally led the National Olympic Committee for decades, and then passed this role to his son Victor. In response to Belarus’s suppression of dissidents, the International Olympic Committee banned the two from participating in the Olympics.
Sports “is a big toy for Lukashenko’s private promotion,” said Yelena Lushanka, center forward of the Athens Panathinaikos basketball team.
At the same time, the two-time Olympian added that athletes “may lose everything” on social media or in interviews.
Recalling that when an American television expert asked LeBron James to “shut up and dribble,” she said: “It’s the same thing, but it’s 100 times worse…Think of how athletes are in a country with this kind of propaganda. How difficult.”
Leuchanka was arrested for 15 days last September after participating in a peaceful protest against the Belarusian government and signing a letter condemning Lukashenko.
She described the flea raging situation in Minsk’s notorious Akrestina prison, where she and other prisoners were squeezed into cells without mattresses and spare toilets.
But she said that she did not regret talking about the government publicly. She said that “someone must take the lead in taking measures so that we can make things better in the future”.
As athletes said, it is important to have an independent organization, such as the Athletes Association, which can “protect athletes at all costs.”
“Because we play such an important role in society, we should hear our voices,” she said. “We are changing track and field sports. We are changing athletes.”
Participation in the group cost many participants a heavy price. When asked how this affects his life, Apeikin said: “Well, I have a criminal case against me. I can’t be in the country. This is how it affects my life.” He and Herasi Menia was accused of trying to seize power from the government. As for the threats to the safety of group members, he said: “We should not feel comfortable. We need to maintain some security measures.”
But most people who expressed dissent publicly insisted on what they said. At a press conference on Wednesday, Zimanusskaya told Belarusians “Don’t be afraid, if they are under pressure, please speak up.”
“I did what I felt was right, and I felt free,” Leuchenka said. “After I got out of prison, when I told the truth, it just confirmed that we were on the right path.”
