Two Belarus team coaches removed from Tokyo Olympics
(Sourced from PTI)
Two Belarus team coaches have been removed from the Olympics, four days after they were involved in trying to send sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya back to their country. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it has canceled and removed the credentials of Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich. "The two coaches were requested to leave the Olympic Village immediately and have done so," the IOC said.
"It was done as an interim measure during a formal investigation in the interest of the well-being of the athletes," the Olympic body said. Shimak and Maisevich continued to have contact with Belarusian athletes since Sunday after the IOC linked them to taking Tsimanouskaya in a car to the airport to put her on a plane to Belarus.
Tsimanouskaya had criticized team coaches on social media and is now in Poland with a humanitarian visa. The IOC said Shimak and Maisevich will be offered an opportunity to be heard by its disciplinary commission investigating the case.
It was still unclear if the men have stayed in Japan or will leave for Belarus in Europe, an authoritarian former Soviet republic that relentlessly pursues its critics. Belarus has been in turmoil for a year since Alexander Lukashenko claimed a sixth presidential term after a state election widely viewed as rigged in his favor.
Lukashenko had also led the Belarusian Olympic Committee since the 1990s until this year. Later, his son, Viktor, was elected to replace him. The IOC banned both Lukashenko and his son from attending the Tokyo Olympics after investigating complaints from the athletes they faced reprisals as well as intimidation in a security crackdown after the election.
Lukashenko was previously not able to attend the London Olympics held in the year 2012 because of a European Union visa ban imposed during a previous crackdown that followed a disputed election.
