What Awaits the Coaches Who Put Pressure on Krystsina Tsimanouskaya

They became the subjects of an international investigation.

On the last day of September, the Independent Body to Combat Negative Phenomena in Athletics (AIU) reported that an official investigation was launched against the head coach of the Belarusian national athletics team Yury Maisevich and the head coach of the team Artur Shumak, who put pressure on sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya. It will be handled by AIU itself with the support and assistance of the International Olympic Committee. They promise to publish the results of the investigation.

Between the direct attempt to deport Tsimanouskaya to Belarus and this report about Maisevich and Shumak, almost nothing was heard. After the most disastrous Olympic Games for Belarusian sports in Tokyo, the functionaries went into the shadows. The Tribune found out what the consequences of the AIU proceedings might be for them.

What is the reason for the investigation?

The story of the runner Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, thanks to which the names of Maisevich and Shumak got into the world media, began to develop at the end of July in Tokyo. Not long before that, some of the coaches or leaders of the national athletics team (no one announced the specific names of the culprits) did not think that Belarus in this sport is considered dangerous in terms of doping, which is why there is a strict procedure in terms of quantity and time between doping samples. As a result, the procedure was not followed for three Belarusian women, and they did not get to the Games. Among them are two runners who were supposed to perform in the relay race 4 x 400 m.

Some officials screwed up (they made a fool of themselves and won't admit their guilt), and that's why there were issues with participation in the 4 x 400 m relay in Tokyo. Girls of quite a different profile were declared there - it's just awful.

To somehow rectify the situation, the coaching staff of the national team declared Tsimanouskaya to the relay without informing her. When Krystsina found out, she criticized the functionaries on her Instagram page. And then events began to unfold with breakneck speed Already on August 1, it became known that the runner, who was planning to start the next day at a profile distance of 200 meters, was forcibly taken from Tokyo to Minsk. However, Tsimanouskaya chose a competent strategy - in the Olympic village, where she was surrounded by the Belarusian delegation, she did not resist, and she was able to break away from a couple of escorts and request protection from the Japanese police at the airport, which provided it.

“The coach said that this issue is no longer at the level of the federation and the Ministry of Sports. That I need to be eliminated from the Games.” Runner Tsimanouskaya was afraid of going to jail.

The girl managed to avoid being sent to Belarus, where she was afraid to go to prison. As a result, she received a humanitarian visa to Poland and went to this country, intending to compete for a place in the Polish athletics team.

As for Maisevich and Shumak, people started talking about them when the recordings of their conversations with the athlete appeared on the network. They persuaded the athlete to feign injury, "accept fate," without telling her family, and accused her of destroying their lives by publicly reporting people who messed up the tests - for some reason, no one remembered that the incompetence of these people could destroy lives of those who did not get to the Olympic Games athletes.

At the same time, the NOC stated that it was decided to expel Tsimanouskaya from Japan due to her "emotional and psychological state" - it is not clear how it prevents a person from performing at her best distance at the Olympic Games when such a right has been honestly won. The state media quickly began to declare that all the behavior was a carefully planned action to escape from Belarus (it is amazing at how many points government agencies had to help her to do this).

However, world sports officials did not pay attention to this. Already on August 1, the IOC requested information from the NOC of Belarus on the Tsimanouskaya case. On August 3, the International Olympic Committee announced the beginning of its own investigation.

As for Maisevich and Shumak, on August 5, the IOC disciplinary commission decided to early revoke their accreditation at the Olympics. The very next day the functionaries went to Minsk.

What awaits specialists in the near future?

The AIU investigation launched against Shumak and Maisevich could last up to two months. But changes in Belarusian athletics may happen earlier.

On October 7, the Ministry of Sports will host a certification of the national team. At such events, the question of who to renew the contract with and with whom not is decided. This applies to both athletes and coaches. Experts familiar with the situation predict that Maisevich, despite his length of service before the system, will nevertheless be removed from the position of head coach of the national team, which he has been occupying since September 2018. There are two reasons for dismissal. The first reason is the investigation launched against the coach. The second reason is failure to fulfill planned obligations - the national team was tasked to win three medals at the Olympics, however, the track and field athletes brought to Belarus only one bronze of Nedosekov.

If we talk about the prospects of Shumak, then he has been working as the deputy director of the RCOP for athletics since December 2011 (he replaced Maisevich in this post) and, most likely, will retain his position. The Minister of Sports can remove him, but after the events at the Olympics and the recording on which Shumak did not admit any guilt for the representatives of the system, such a person is unlikely to be thrown out of his warm chair, despite an international investigation.