International Olympic Committee opens probe against 2 Belarusian coaches for bullying sprinter

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened a "formal procedure" on Thursday against two Belarusian coaches for bullying sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

The IOC said Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich will be investigated for allegedly ordering Tsimanouskaya to board a plane for Belarus after she criticized her team's administration on social media.

The Olympic governing body and World Athletics "jointly agreed to continue the investigation and to open a formal procedure" against Shimak and Maisevich.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) was also said to "conduct the procedure" with the collaboration of the IOC.

The IOC previously revoked the accreditations of the two coaches during the Tokyo Olympics and requested them leave the Olympic Village in the Japanese capital.

"I ask the International Olympic Committee for help. I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent. I asked the IOC to intervene," Tsimanouskaya, 24, said in video posted on the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) during the Games.

BSSF is a group created by sports officials and athletes in 2020 to support athletes repressed, sacked or excluded for their political views.

Tsimanouskaya was at a Tokyo hotel near the airport and made contact with Japanese police and the office of the UN high commissioner for refugees, refusing to go back to Belarus.

She arrived in Warsaw after Poland granted her a humanitarian visa and then asylum.