- Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, an Olympic sprinter from
Belarus , complained about her coaches. - She was ordered to fly home on Sunday but she refused to go, saying she would be jailed.
- She has since been under Japanese protection. She was seen visiting the Polish embassy on Monday.
An Olympic sprinter from Belarus has been placed under Japanese police protection after she said she was taken to the airport against her will after criticizing her coaches and said she does not want to go home.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, was involuntarily taken to Tokyo-Haneda airport on Sunday, Reuters reported.
But she told Reuters that she did not want to be taken home: "I will not return to Belarus."
"I am afraid that in Belarus they might put me in jail," she told the Belarusian news agency Zerkalo.io.
"I am not afraid that I will be fired or kicked out of the national team, I am worried about my safety. And I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus."
Sky News reported that she was seen arriving at the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday after spending the night at an airport hotel.
The International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said that Japanese authorities were now looking after Tsimanouskaya, the BBC reported.
Adams said she's "safe and secure," according to Axios.
Tsimanouskaya ran in the women's 100-meter heats on Friday, and was scheduled to compete in the women's 200-meter heats on Monday.
According to local reports, she complained on Instagram that she was entered into the 400-meter relay, due to take place on Thursday, with little notice and without having trained for the event.
She told Reuters that she was taken from the team because she "spoke on Instagram about the negligence of our coaches."