Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that a sprinter who defected from the Tokyo Olympics had been “manipulated” by external forces and would not otherwise have chosen asylum in another country on August 9.
Protests in Belarus
Politico: Lukashenko says sprinter who fled Olympics was ‘manipulated’
Belarus athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya (L) walks through Terminal 1 before boarding her Vienna-bound flight at Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, outside Tokyo on Aug. 4, 2021, after travelling from the Polish embassy where she had spent the past two nights following claims her team tried to force her to return home after she criticised her coaches during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
