Sawt Falasteen - 'Dreams come true' for Poland's Belarusian Olympian

"Paris was my goal," Tsimanouskaya, who now represents Poland, told AFP in an interview in the picturesque Olympic village in a northern suburb of the French capital.

"Dreams come true," said the 27-year-old, sporting a red T-shirt with "Polska" emblazoned across her chest.

A tatoo on her left forearm says in Russian, her native language: "Too strong to give up."

In a highly-publicised row in Tokyo, Tsimanouskaya announced she feared for her life when officials from authoritarian Belarus tried to send her back home after she criticised her coaches. She found shelter at the Polish embassy and later flew to Poland.

The diplomatic incident came amid a brutal crackdown on dissent after disputed elections that returned strongman Alexander Lukashenko to power in 2020. Tsimanouskaya was one of more than 2,000 Belarusian sports figures who signed an open letter calling for new elections.

Three years on, the athlete appeared relaxed and with a ready smile, saying she was happy to feel the Olympic vibe, this time minus the drama surrounding her defection.

"I have a feeling that I am back in Tokyo," she laughed. "In a positive sense."

- Health problems -

The road to Paris was challenging.

Although she received Polish citizenship nine months after defecting, it was uncertain when she would be able to race for Poland internationally. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 complicated her bid to change her sport nationality.

World Athletics, track and field's governing body, cleared her in August, 2023, just ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

Tsimanouskaya says she has worked hard to integrate. She learned Polish and said she feels treated well by peers and coaches. Still, the first year in her new home country was challenging: she received online threats and needed a bodyguard for months.

Even now, security is never far from her mind.

She would prefer not to leave the confines of the Olympic village, and hopes to steer clear of Belarusian officials and athletes who compete in Paris under a neutral status as punishment for the country's role in the invasion of Ukraine.

"KGB officers accompanied the Belarusian national team in Tokyo," she said. "I have been warned not to go anywhere alone."

Worst of all are health problems she has experienced over the past year. Doctors say that the stress of the past few years might be catching up with her.

"I get sick every two months," Tsimanouskaya said. "It's either chills or fever."

After the Paris Olympics, she hopes to focus on her health and prepare for the World Championships in Tokyo next year.

Due to her health problems she might retire from elite sport earlier than she initially expected and the 2028 Los Angeles Games may be out of reach.

- Criminal case -

The campaign of online harassment has subsided but the Lukashenko regime still has Tsimanouskaya in its sights.

In May, Belarusian authorities opened a criminal case against her and more than 250 other opposition figures who ran for the exiled Coordination Council. They were accused of "forming an extremist group" and "conspiracy to overthrow the government".

Authorities also raided the home of Tsimanouskaya's parents in the small town of Klimavichy, where they still live.

"This is absurd," said the athlete. "For the past three years I've been practising sport and preparing for the Olympics."

Meeting with AFP a day after a historic prisoner swap involving Russia, Belarus and the West, Tsimanouskaya said her advice for the freed Russian activists who will now start a new life far from home was "not to look back".

She sometimes felt nostalgic for her old life, but had now "accepted things as they are", Tsimanouskaya said.

"If you just sit there and cry for what you've lost you don't move forward."

D.Qudsi--SF-PST