The International Olympics Committee revoked the credentials of two Belarusan coaches in the wake of an accusation from a Belarusan runner that she was being kidnapped and taken to the Tokyo airport, the Associated Press reports.
The coaches, Artur Shimak and Yury Maisevich, reportedly tried to force sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya onto a flight back to Belarus after the woman complained about the coaching of the Olympic team. She was assisted by security officers at the airport, who took them out of the custody of the two men.
“The two coaches were requested to leave the Olympic Village immediately and have done so,” the IOC said, saying it acted “in the interest of the wellbeing of the athletes.” Tsimanouskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland and is currently in that county.
Belarusan president Aleksander Lukashenko, who claimed he won a sixth term a year ago in an election largely seen as rigged, led the nation’s Olympic Committee until earlier this year, when his son took over. He had significant input into who traveled with the nation’s Olympic team, and is said to be personally vested in the success and reputation of the program.