Herasimenia Urges IOC To Allow Belarusian Athletes To Compete Under Neutral Flags

She has also called for excluding the Belarusian NOC from its ranks.

Belarusian swimmer, double vice-champion of the Olympic Games in 2012 and bronze winner of the Olympic Games in 2016 Aliaksandra Herasimenia hopes that the International Olympic Committee will allow the Belarusian dissident athletes to perform at the Olympics under the neutral flag and exclude from its ranks NOC of Belarus, which is headed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka, Deutsche Welle writes.

Herasimenia reported about it in her interview to AFP news agency published on Wednesday, October 21.

She informed that 10 Belarusian sportsmen were detained because of their participation in the protests against the results of the presidential election in the country, another 20 sportsmen were banned from training in Belarus. Thus, Aliaksandra does not rule out that the participation of Belarusian sportsmen in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 is under threat.

Yesterday, on October 21, Herasimenia reported in her Instagram about a meeting with the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Poland, Adam Krzesiński, where "issues of establishing cooperation" were discussed.

At present Herasimenia heads the Belarusian Fund of Solidarity of Athletes, providing assistance to those who were not afraid to oppose the Lukashenka regime.