This prompted the US, the European Union, the UK, and Canada to impose sanctions preventing senior Belarus government officials from entering their borders.
I am worried about my safety, and I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to Zerlako.io
The IOC has taken a hardline stance against Lukashenko since the August election. It refused to recognise the legitimacy of his presidency, stripped the Belarus NOC of funding, and denied Belarus the right to host international sporting events.
The IOC also does not recognise Victor Lukashenko as the head of Belarus NOC. Victor was given the title when his father, a former officer in the Soviet army, relinquished it earlier this year. Lukashenkos personal interest and political investment in sport means that any Belarus officials sent to Tokyo to chaperone their athletes are likely to be cronies of the regime.
The dispute between Tsimanouskaya and her team began on Saturday when she posted an Instagram message, since deleted, claiming that national team boss Yuri Moisevich ordered her to withdraw from the 200 metres, an event in which she had qualified to run, to make up the numbers in the 4x400m relay.
Tsimanouskaya, who had run in the heats of the 100m a day earlier, reportedly described the demand as outrageous and accused the team hierarchy of incompetence.
Belarus response was to engage in state-sanctioned gaslighting, with a statement released by the Belarus NOC claiming it had withdrawn Tsimanouskaya from competition because of her emotional and psychological state.
By the time her 200m heat was run on Monday, Tsimanouskayas name had been removed from the start sheet, bringing her involvement in these Games to an abrupt end.
In her interview with Zerlako.io, Tsimanouskaya said this was untrue and she had been dumped from the team as retribution. She described how, on Sunday, Moisevich came to her room with another team official and told her she had two hours to pack her bags and get to the airport.
She reportedly said a team psychologist advised her on how best to accept blame for the situation when she returned to Minsk and was questioned by the Minister of Sport Sergey Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk is a career soldier who worked in the presidents personal security detail. When he was appointed to the sports post in March, Lukashenko told local media that he wanted to see greater discipline across the national sports system.
So far, we have more problems in sports than victories and successes, he said.
Think, see who to work with, build a system. But the main thing is that it lacks discipline. The coaching staff works disgustingly, with the exception of some.
In the same month that Kovalchuk was appointed, the IOC executive board expressed concern that the Belarus NOC had not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination within their NOC, their member federations or the sports movement.
Tsimanouskaya agreed to go to Haneda airport with the team officials, but once there, sought refuge with Tokyo Metropolitan Police. During a tense, late-night stand-off, she posted a video of herself from inside the police station.
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald contacted the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the local office of the UNHRC for comment.
Tsimanouskayas cause has been taken up by Belaruss exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who travelled to Washington DC last week to meet US President Joe Biden and senior US national security and state department officials.
President Biden, in a statement released on Twitter, said: The United States stands with the people of the Belarus in their quest for democracy and universal human rights.
Adams said the IOC would continue to support Tsimanouskaya but noted it is not within our remit to help her with any future plans she may have.
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