Poland Grants Humanitarian Visa to Belarusian Olympian

Polish authorities on Monday granted a humanitarian visa to a Belarusian Olympic sprinter in Tokyo to seek political asylum in Poland after she alleged her team’s officials were trying to force her to fly home to Belarus against her wishes.

The runner, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, told officials in Tokyo she feared she would not be safe in Belarus from the autocratic government of President Alexander Lukashenko. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz confirmed late Monday on Twitter that the athlete had been granted the visa. An activist group said it had bought Tsimanouskaya a plane ticket for a Wednesday flight to Warsaw. The political drama unfolded after Tsimanouskaya criticized how officials were managing the Belarusian Olympians, provoking a backlash in state-run media back home, where the government often cracks down on critics.