Sprinter Cimanoŭskaja wins Olympic license as Polish team member

May 5, Pozirk. In a show of triumph over the sports officials in Minsk, a Belarusian sprinter competing for Poland has qualified for the Olympic Games to be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
Today’s relay race in the world championships in the Bahamas brought Kryścina Cimanoŭskaja her long-awaited license as the Polish team made it to the final in the women’s 4x100m.
Cimanoŭskaja, then a member of the Belarusian team, asked for asylum in Poland after an incident at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The coaching staff demanded that she compete in a discipline she had not trained for. The athlete refused and brought the problem to the public’s attention.
In this way, her fans learned about her conflict with Artur Šumak, deputy director of the Belarusian National Olympic Training Center in Athletics, and Juryj Maisievič, athletics head coach.
On August 1, 2021, Cimanoŭskaja was to be forcibly sent to her home country, but asked police for help at Tokyo airport. From Japan, she flew to Austria and then to Poland, where she now lives.
Polish President Andrzej Duda signed an act granting her citizenship in June 2023. On August 7, Cimanoŭskaja said that she had gained the right to compete for Poland in international games.
An opponent of Alaksandar Łukašenka’s regime, she is running for the Coordination Council from the Law and Order group led by Alaksandar Azaraŭ.
Two more Belarusian women have a chance to qualify for the Olympics from Poland: high jumper Maryja Žodzik and dressage rider Volha Safronava.
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja welcomes new EU sanctionsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsNew terrorist designations announcedThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsOpposition urges Washington to appoint special envoy for BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SecurityŁukašenka issues edict to detail wartime transport requisitioning proceduresThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, Politics, SecurityOpposition politician Łatuška welcomes EU sanctions as show of strengthThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- PoliticsTbilisi court rules to free Belarusian asylum seekerThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- Economy
- PoliticsInterior ministry brands one Estonian, 31 Belarusians as extremistsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- PoliticsFree Belarus Museum opens new exhibition on third anniversaryThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyGovernment to build new pulp and paper mill in Viciebsk regionThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security
- EconomyKlaipėda terminal keeps up pressure on Lithuanian government to resume transit of Belarus’ fertilizersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsReprisals: new wave of arrests targeting 2020 protestersThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SportBelarusian gymnasts to rejoin international competitionsThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyBiełavija to open new China linkThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, PoliticsBelarus and Laos sign visa exemption dealThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics