DISINFO: Krystsina Tsimanouskaya planned the Tokyo scandal due to her poor performance
SUMMARY
There are all indications showing that Krystsina Tsimanouskaya might have "planned" the Tokyo incident to attract international attention. Tsimanouskaya did not feel confident about her sports results, and there was already a plan in her mind to cause some scandal. If Tsimanouskaya was brought to the airport with the security, how could she have made a video?
The Belarusian Olympic Committee announced that Tsimanouskaya was dismissed because of a bad emotional and mental state.
RESPONSE
The message connected to the recent political scandal around a Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya.
The claim that Tsimanouskaya did not take part in the Olympics because of her sports results or a pre-planned desire to provoke an international scandal is untrue.
This athlete did not take part in the Olympics because of the political decision of the Belarusian authorities to forcefully return her to Belarus as she “dared” to criticise the Belarusian sports functionaries for their evident mistakes and manipulations.
On 30 July 2021, Tsimanouskaya recorded a social media video criticising the functionaries of the Belarusian Olympic Team for their attempts to make her run the 4×400 m relay race despite the fact that she never prepared or planned to take part in this race as she runs other distances. The Belarusian authorities reacted to this criticism in quite an unprecedented and scandalous way, demanding the immediate return of the athlete to Minsk.
On 1 August, Tsimanouskaya was brought to the Tokyo Airport by two functionaries of the Belarusian Olympic Team, who were supposed to “make sure that she leaves Tokyo”. At the Airport, Tsimanouskaya asked the Japanese Police for help in order to prevent her forceful expulsion from Japan.
At the present moment, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is in Poland, which provided her with humanitarian assistance. The International Olympic Committee initiated an investigation of this incident. Meanwhile, two Belarusian coaches involved in the attempt of forceful expulsion of Tsimanouskaya from Japan lost their Olympic accreditation.
It is important to remember that the Olympic Games is a sensitive political issue in Belarus, as Alyaksandr Lukashenka had been the Head of the Belarusian Olympic Committee for 24 years (1997-2021). Today, the Head of this Committee is the oldest son of Lukashenka, Viktor.
Read other disinformation messages connected to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo: Russian athletes are forbidden to compete under the Russian flag because of the West's Cold War against Russia; WADA decision against Russia is an unfounded punishment and Banning Russia from the Olympics is a modern form of racism.