Defected Belarusian athlete announces plan to run for Poland

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya says she hopes to compete again after her high-profile defection during the Tokyo Olympics.

Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, whose defection during the recent Tokyo Olympics gripped the Games, plans to apply for Polish sporting citizenship so that she can run for Poland. Tsimanouskaya, 24, was taken in by Warsaw this month after she refused to obey her coaches’ orders to return to Belarus from Japan following a dispute over their handling of the Belarusian Olympic team. She says that she feared for her safety in her homeland and that the decision to remove her from the Tokyo Games came from “high up”.