The Belarusian Olympian who refused to go home and defected to Poland after criticizing her coach says she now wants to race for her new country

• A Belarusian sprinter says she wants to compete for Poland after defecting at the Tokyo Olympics.
• After criticizing coaches, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was ordered to return home but refused to board the plane.
• Tsimanouskaya said she feared imprisonment back home after her falling out with the coaches.

The Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya says she wants to compete for Poland after defecting during the Tokyo Olympics.

After her criticism of her coaches, Tsimanouskaya says she was forcibly taken to the airport but refused to board the plane and was placed under Japanese police protection.

She told authorities that she feared being jailed if she returned home to Belarus after the social-media criticism of her coaches.

On leaving Japan, Tsimanouskaya flew to Poland and now says she wants to switch allegiances to the country.

"We are now going to try to change my sporting citizenship so that I can compete for the Polish national team," the 24-year-old said, as reported by Reuters. "I have decided to stay in Poland and compete for the Polish national team."

Tsimanouskaya's complaints came after she said she was entered into the 4x400-meter relay with little notice and having not trained for the event. She was also stopped from competing in her favored event, the 200 meters.

The Belarus Olympic committee officials "didn't explain me anything. I was just told to pack my things. They bought me a ticket and escorted me to the airport," she said, according to the Belarusian journalist Tadeusz Giczan.

The Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has been described as Europe's "last dictator" and in the past journalists and politicians have disappeared under his regime. Additionally, in August 2020, several Belarusian soccer players were imprisoned.

At the time, the sprinter took to Twitter to implore the International Olympic Committee to help her and asked them to intervene.

On August 3, the IOC launched an investigation and sought answers from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee.

At the time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Belarus' attempt to send Tsimanouskaya home against her will an act of "transnational repression" on Twitter.