Belarusian coach Maisevich charged by Athletics Integrity Unit on Tokyo 2020 defection incident
Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged Belarusian coach Yury Maisevich with acting without integrity and in bad faith after the defection of sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but team official Artur Shumak faces no further action.
Maisevich and Shumak were expelled from Tokyo 2020 after Tsimanouskaya claimed she was taken to the airport against her will following public criticism of Belarus’ coaches.
Tsimanouskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland and safe passage to the country which borders Belarus, and is now a full Polish citizen.
READ ALSO:Rebecca Welch to take charge of Birmingham vs Preston
She was forced to miss her 200 metres race because of the incident.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Athletics referred the matter to the AIU in September 2021, and it has charged Maisevich with breaching integrity standards of honesty, dignity and protect reputation outlined in the Integrity Code of Conduct.
“The AIU alleges that, in respect of these circumstances of Tsimanouskaya’s removal from the Olympic Games, Maisevich did not act with integrity and acted in bad faith; failed to safeguard the athlete’s dignity and his actions constituted verbal and mental harassment; and that he brought athletics generally into disrepute,” it said.
The head of the AIU Brett Clothier explained: “An important role of the AIU is to safeguard athletes and protect them from harassment.
“The AIU has investigated this matter thoroughly and considers there is a case to answer for a breach of the Integrity Code of Conduct.”
The IOC also launched an investigation into the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus’ (NOCRB) role in the incident, which was described as “deplorable” by President Thomas Bach.
The NOCRB had already been hit by several sanctions by the IOC, and it does not recognise the election of Viktor Lukashenko – the son of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko – as President.
However, it has not been formally suspended, and athletes were permitted to compete under the Belarusian flag at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Belarusian athletes have now largely been frozen out of international sport due to the nation’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.