Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya (bio here), 24, is the big story of the Tokyo Olympics. Not for winning medals, but for seeking asylum.
Tsimanouskaya was kicked off Belarus’ Olympic team for complaining about being put into a relay race without warning, and hustled to Tokyo’s airport for a flight back home, where she faced reprisals.
That country’s Olympic team is directly run by Belarussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his son.
Dozens of Belarussian athletes have already been arrested for participating in protests against the government. Tsimanouskaya’s parents warned her by phone not to return home. She didn’t. She defected instead.
Tsimanouskaya, apparently fearing abduction, went to a Tokyo police station with a Tokyo Olympics official. Nearly every European country quickly offered her asylum. She elected to go to Poland, where she’s likely to be joined by her husband, who managed to escape from Belarus to Ukraine despite closed borders.
Read story here. Lukashenko, who’s held power in Belarus, a former Soviet republic, since the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. is a holdover from the Soviet era, and has been called “Europe’s last dictator.” Accused of human rights abuses, he’s under sanctions in the West, but supported by countries like Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. Read about him here.