Ex-Olympic athletics coach for Belarus Yuri Moisevich has been banned for five years following a tribunal investigating his conduct at the Tokyo Olympics, where sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya feared for her safety when Moisevich attempted to force her return to Belarus on government orders.
The Athletics Integrity Unit tribunal found that 63-year-old Moisevich's actions were "a clear affront to the Athlete's dignity and an abuse of...power" and that he provided "false or inaccurate information in the course of events leading up to the Athlete's departure from the Olympic village."
Recordings Tsimanouskaya had taken of her conversations with Moisevich were part of the evidence at the hearing which found that Moisevich "perpetrated or, at the very least, assisted in the perpetration of a false narrative concerning the Athlete's mental and emotional state to justify her immediate removal from the Olympic games pursuant to an order from the Ministry of Sport."
Tsimanouskaya had criticized the Belarus management on social media when she was entered into the 4x400m relay event without her knowledge after some athletes were unable to compete due to doping issues. The 27-year-old sprinter soon removed the post.
Moisevich was among those making the decision to send Tsimanouskaya back to Belarus and she was escorted to the airport on August 1, 2021.
However, her grandmother warned her over the phone of a media backlash against her in Belarus and Tsimanouskaya feared for her safety.
Belarusian athletes had complained of reprisals and intimidation as President Alexander Lukashenko's government cracked down on dissent following his disputed reelection in 2020.
Tsimanouskaya sought help from the police and soon took refuge in the Polish embassy in Tokyo. She resettled there and now competes internationally for Poland.
Moisevich's Olympic credentials were revoked in the days following the incident.
