Tsimanouskaya has been offered to join Team Orlen, a group of athletes sponsored by the Polish state-owned company, CEO Daniel Obajtek said on Friday.
The Olympic athlete, who refused to be sent home from Tokyo after criticising her country's sports officials, arrived in Warsaw under Polish diplomatic protection on Wednesday evening after earlier taking shelter in the Polish embassy in Tokyo.
"Yesterday we offered PKN Orlen’s support to Krystsina Tsimanouskaya,” Obajtek said in a Twitter post on Friday.
“We will be honoured if she accepts the invitation to join Team Orlen,” he added.
“We play on one team in solidarity," he also tweeted.
Tsimanouskaya caused a diplomatic incident last weekend when she said her coaches had cut her Tokyo Games short, demanding she pack her bags at the Olympic village and hustling her to the airport for a flight to Minsk via Instanbul because she publicly criticised how her team had been managed.
She asked the International Olympic Committee to intervene and sought police protection so she would not have to board the flight.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk said on Thursday that "the Polish gene of solidarity" had been the driving force behind a complex operation to bring the Belarusian sprinter to Warsaw from the Tokyo Olympics—an effort that he said ended in success despite being fraught with risks.
Tsimanouskaya on Thursday thanked the Polish foreign ministry, the Polish prime minister's office and the country's diplomatic service as well as the Japanese authorities for allowing her to fly from Japan to Poland.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Poland at the start of this week issued a humanitarian visa to the 24-year-old, who had been due to compete in the women's 200m event at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday.
She won the 200m at the 2019 Universiade in Naples and has also taken part in world and European championships.
Last year, when the Belarusian opposition protested after the country's disputed presidential election, Tsimanouskaya condemned violence and expressed support for free speech.
Tsimanouskaya's husband, Arseni Zdanevich, fled Belarus this week, shortly after his wife said she would not be returning home.
Poland has also granted him a visa, and he was expected to join Tsimanouskaya in Warsaw later on Friday, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
(mrs/gs)
Source: PAP