Belarussian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya said she hoped to continue her career overseas following a dramatic turn of events in which she fled her team after facing threats for criticizing team officials.
After receiving a humanitarian visa from Poland, the athlete boarded a plane for Vienna Wednesday morning.
Team officials “made it clear that, upon return home, I would definitely face some form of punishment,” she said.
“There were...thinly disguised hints that more would await me," she told the Associated Press in an interview from Tokyo.