Belarus sprinter Krystina Timanovskaya boards a flight out of Japan

A Belarusian athlete who denied flying home early from the Olympics has left Japan. Krystina Timanovskaya (24) left on a flight to Vienna on Wednesday morning.

She is expected to travel directly to Warsaw as Poland granted her a humanitarian visa but changed her target at the last minute, an airport official told the media.

She told the BBC her actions were not a federal demonstration: “I love my land, and I did not betray my country.”

“It’s about the mistakes our officials made during the Olympics,” she told the BBC’s Newshour.

The athlete expressed her fear for her safety after she was forced to pack her belongings last week and drove to Tokyo’s Haneda airport after criticizing her coaches.

She received police protection before being transferred to the Polish Embassy in Tokyo, where she remained until she travelled to Narita Airport on Wednesday.

Belarus says she has been removed from the national team due to her emotional state.

But Timanovskaya spoke to the BBC on Tuesday, saying she did not suffer from mental health issues and that she had no conversations with doctors in the Olympic town.

She said she was shocked when team authorities told her she was leaving the Games because she “did not say anything political” and added that she would like to return to Belarus “if I know it’s safe.” ten years can return “.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has initiated a formal probe into accusations that Belarus tried to apply Timanovskaya to return home.

“We need to establish the full facts, which could take time,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “Meanwhile, our first concern is for the athlete.”

The IOC has requested that the Belarussian National Olympic Committee submit its report on the incident by the end of Tuesday.

The athlete’s husband, Arseniy Zdanevich, has meanwhile left Belarus and is now in Ukraine. He told the BBC’s Ukrainian Service that the pair had never been implicated in politics and that they would return to Belarus if they did not stand trial.

The head of an organization that helps Belarusians flee abroad was found dead separately near his home in neighbouring Ukraine on Tuesday. Vitaly Shishov was reportedly recently followed.