VIENNA, AUSTRIA — A plane carrying a Belarusian Olympic sprinter seeking refuge landed in Austria on Wednesday after she resisted an attempt by her Olympic team’s officials to send her home, where she feared reprisals from the authoritarian government.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya boarded a plane at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport that left for Vienna, but she was expected to travel on to Poland, which has offered her a humanitarian visa. Before leaving Japan, the 24-year-old Tsimanouskaya said she hoped she could continue her running career but that safety was her immediate priority.
Her husband fled the country quickly this week when he realized that his wife would not be returning to Belarus.