she s a young athlete, thrust into a political row she never sought. when sprinter kristina simanovskaya publicly criticised her coaches at the olympics, they tried to force her back to belarus. she refused. speaking to the bbc from tokyo, she said she was now scared for herself and for her family. translation: i can t go back to belarus now, of course. - it s definitely not safe for me. i have no idea when i can go back. it may be five or ten years. and today came another reminder of the danger for dissidents. in kyiv, a young belarusian activist was found hanging in a park, but his friends don t believe it was suicide. vitaly shishov fled to ukraine last year to avoid arrest. he d been helping a flood of other opposition supporters who followed. the opposition leader, svetla na tsikhanovskaya, is in forced exile herself.
iam i am live in tokyo and day 12 is under way and we have had another world record on the track, as american sydney mclaughlin wins gold in the 400 metres hurdles. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the belarusian sprinter who refused orders to fly home early from the olympics is about to leave japan. she was meant to fly to warsaw, but has been seen boarding a flight to vienna. officials from belarus had tried to send kristina simanovskaya home after she complained about the events the committee had entered herfor. in a moment we ll get the latest from tokyo, but first our correspondent sarah rainsford has this report from the belarusian capital, minsk.