More Athletes Refusing To Return Home After Olympian Fled Tokyo


Heptathlete Yana Maksimava, a Belarusian athlete, vowed Tuesday with an announcement on Instagram that she will not return to the country amid crackdowns on government criticism and will remain in Germany with her husband, Andrey Krauchanka, who won a silver medal in the decathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and their daughter.

“I’m not planning to return home after all the events that happened in Belarus,” said Maksimava.

“You can lose not just your freedom, but also your life,” she added

Just on Monday Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya also refused to return to Belarus after the reported murder of an exiled Belarusian government critic. Belarus team officials attempted to force Tsimanouskaya on a plane back to Belarus on Monday after she publicly criticized the national team coaches. She was able to flee to the Polish embassy in Japan for help after refusing to board the flight.

“I was just afraid for my life, afraid to go to jail,” Tsimanouskaya told the WSJ on Tuesday. “I don’t think I can ever go back to Belarus.”

Belarus officials “made it clear upon return home, I would definitely face some form of punishment,” Tsimanouskaya told the Associated Press. “There were also thinly disguised hints that more would await me.”

Tsimanouskaya landed in Austria on Wednesday, and her husband has fled to Ukraine, the AP reported. The two plan to meet in Warsaw.

Vitaly Shishov, a Belarusian activist living in exile in Ukraine, was found hanging from a tree in a park on Tuesday. The 26-year-old led a group that helped Belrusians flee persecution.

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