The Czech government has publicly voiced its full support for the Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, after a scandal surrounding her emerged on Sunday. The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Jakub Kulhánek (ČSSD), has announced that the athlete will be offered a temporary Czech visa soon, so that she does not have to return to her more and more undemocratic home, and can apply for international protection. This is a reaction to a sequence of events which unraveled on Sunday. First, the sprinter who was mean to race on Monday, was taken to the Tokyo airport on Sunday, following her open criticism of both the Belarusian regime and Sport officials. Luckily, the athlete managed to alarm the local authorities before she was forced on a plane to Istanbul by her countrymen. According to Tsimanouskaya, she was afraid of flying home. Her life would likely be in danger. After she was rescued, she made a video calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to do something. The IOC already had problems with the Belarusian Olympic team, lead by none other than the son of the current ruler of Belarus. Thus, it is no surprise that they recently announced that the team of Belarus will be under thorough investigation. Meanwhile the athlete has been transported to a safehouse by Tokyo authorities and has since received many offers similar to the Czech one. According to BSSF, a non-profit which helps protect Belarusian athletes from their own government, she is expected apply for asylum at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo.
