Runner Timanowskaga in Poland: ‘I feel safe’

The Belarusian player who fled would like to continue her sports career in Poland.

Belarusian footballer Kristina Timanovskaya was relieved after fleeing to Poland. “I feel safe here,” the 24-year-old said during a press conference in Warsaw on Thursday. Her husband, Arseny Sdanowicz, who was last in Ukraine, is already on his way to Poland by car and is expected in the evening. She wants to continue her sports career in Poland.

“I hope we will stay here, continue my career and my husband will find a job here,” the athlete said. On the other hand, the athlete, who traveled from Tokyo via Vienna to Warsaw on Wednesday under strict security precautions, said she was worried about her parents who remained in Belarus. “Mainly because my father is ill. He has heart problems and in the past few days his health has deteriorated.” But in the end, her parents assured her that they were doing well so far.

After criticism of sporting officials in her authoritarian country, Timanovskaya claimed that she was brought home from the Olympics against her will. She resisted by seeking protection from the Japanese police at the Tokyo airport. Several countries – including Austria – offered their help. In the end, I then left for Warsaw via Vienna on a Polish humanitarian visa.

(APA/DSPA)