Belarus Olympic Athlete "Likely To Go" To Poland, Says Husband: Report

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian Olympic athlete who claimed her team tried to force her to leave Japan, will likely travel to Poland, her husband told AFP on Monday, adding he himself had left Belarus.

"She will likely go to Poland," Arseny Zdanevich told AFP from the Ukrainian capital Kiev where he said he had fled to. He also said that he was hoping to join his wife "in the near future."

The 24-year-old sprinter spent the night in a Japanese airport hotel after asking Tokyo Olympics officials to help her avoid being put on a flight back to Belarus.

She was supposed to be in the Olympic Stadium on Monday, competing in the 200 metres heats, but was instead the subject of intense diplomatic wrangling over her future.

Zdanevich said that he was currently in Kiev after fleeing Belarus.

"I believe it would not be safe for me to be there (in Belarus)," the 25-year-old fitness trainer told AFP by phone.

He said he had not spoken to his wife since the morning and that he was hoping to join her soon.

Zdanevich said he had lived in Poland before.

Poland was one of several countries that offered Tsimanouskaya asylum.

The country's Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said that Warsaw offered Tsimanouskaya a humanitarian visa in a tweet on Sunday.

"Poland is ready to help Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, a Belarusian athlete ordered by the Lukashenka regime to return from Olympic Games to Minsk," Przydacz added.

The Czech Republic and Slovenia have also said they were ready to welcome the athlete.

Japanese and International Olympic Committee officials said the athlete was safe and was communicating with authorities.

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