A sprinter from Belarus who refused her team's order to fly home early from the Olympics has been granted a humanitarian visa by Poland.
Krystina Timanovskaya, 24, is at the Polish embassy in Tokyo after spending the night secured in a hotel under protection from Japanese police.
She said she was forcibly taken to the airport for criticising coaches, and voiced fears for her safety.
"They are trying to get me out of the country without my permission," she said in a video posted on the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, which was created last year to support athletes critical of the government.
Belarus says she was removed from the team because of her emotional state.
Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said Ms Timanovskaya was in direct contact with Polish diplomats in Tokyo, and that Poland would do "whatever is necessary to help her continue her sporting career".
Her husband has fled to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. He told the AFP news agency he hoped to join his wife in Poland "in the near future".
Anatol Kotau, a member of the Foundation, told the BBC on Sunday: "She's afraid of repression on her family in Belarus - this is the main concern for her right now."
The incident has again put the spotlight on Belarus, which has been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. Last year, nationwide protests over his disputed re-election were violently repressed by the security forces.
Some of those who joined the demonstrations were also national-level athletes, who were stripped of funding, cut from national teams and detained.
The Belarusian government has yet to comment on the Polish decision.
(Source: BBC website, headline composed by Newsroom, photo from Google)
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