Belarus. Kryscina Cimanouska did not return to Poland. Criticism from the regime’s media and sportsmen favoring Alyaksandr Lukashenka

The Belarusian athlete Kryscina Cimanouska informed that Minsk ordered to send her back home from the Olympics for criticizing the official preparations for the event. After Poland offered her help, the player went to the Polish embassy in Tokyo. On Monday, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcin Przydacz, announced that the sprinter had received a Polish humanitarian visa.

Cimanouska’s husband, Arseń Zdanewicz, who is currently in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, also left Belarus.

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Cimanouska’s decision, which earlier criticized her coaches, that three Belarusian runners were not allowed to participate in the Olympics, and that she herself was enrolled in the 4×400 m relay, although she runs 100-200 m, shocked the athletes who were favorable to Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime.

– Due to this ugly and unprofessional situation that occurred at the Olympics, I can see that Cimanouska did not go to Tokyo for victories and not to show the whole world her sports achievements. She went there to implement her own plans, said Alyaksandr Masejkou, a canoeist, Olympic champion in 1992, currently a member of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly (the lower house of the Belarusian parliament), told the state agency BiełTA.

– The Olympic Games are one of the most important competitions for athletes. These are years of work, serious training and preparation. This is a huge job for the coaching staff. But Cimanouska doesn’t care about the consequences and the damage she has done to everyone, he added.

BiełTA also cites another athlete, swimmer and paralympian, Alyaksey Talay, who said the runner’s behavior was “inappropriate”. – It caused serious damage to our country, many of us. We are very sorry and unpleasant – he said.

Tałaj said that if there are any problems in the team, with colleagues, all this is solved in the closest circle. – But here everything was done on purpose in order to cause a scandal and cause as much damage to the country as possible. It also means harm to all Belarusian citizens who prayed for them every day (athletes participating in the Tokyo games – ed.). We did not expect this from our girlfriend – he announced.

The state television STW reported that “Cimanouska’s outburst caused indignation among the Belarusian public.”

Alyaksandr Opejkin of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation, which supports athletes imprisoned or harassed for their political views, said Cimanouska was shown on all propaganda channels and called a “traitor”.

– She began to understand that it is dangerous to return to Minsk. When they came to her and began to try to force deportation, forcibly take them to Minsk, she raised the alarm. She understood how dangerous her return to Minsk was now. She was shown by all propaganda channels. The rule in Belarus is that if a man is shown in the propaganda channel, he will go to prison – he said.

According to independent Belarusian political scientists, the athlete’s decision is “a shock to the system”. They forecast that her act will be “duly condemned” by athletes supporting President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Independent athletes and journalists emphasize that the situation was the result of the attitude of sports officials to the team members participating in the Tokyo games, while the actions of Cimanouska herself were spontaneous and had no political overtones.