A Sound of Thunder.
The Tokyo Olympics, conceived by the idealists as a sports festival, erupted into yet another political scandal.
Belarusian athlete Kristina Timanovskaya, with the help of foreign diplomats and PR specialists, turned from an athlete into a political refugee in a few hours.
Of course, there are many hidden layers in this story that stakeholders will use to their own - not sports - interests.
The consonance of the surname with the appointed main oppositionist of Lukashenko, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the synchronization of the actions of Timanovskaya herself and the Polish diplomats - an excellent start for the story of the recruitment and fanning the scandal.
A scandal, to which all opponents of the current Belarusian government immediately joined.
As soon as the conflict became public, the French Foreign Ministry said that it would be an honor for Europe to grant Timanovskaya political asylum.
Not for France, mind you, but for Europe.
The Poles, armed for the second year in the Cold War with Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, did not keep themselves waiting: they hid Kristina in their embassy, gave them a visa, and now they say that Lukashenka's bloody regime does not spare even athletes.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya herself immediately gave an interview to the British newspaper Financial Times, saying that no athlete can feel safe - neither in Belarus nor abroad.
The public association Global Athlete immediately called on the IOC to suspend the membership of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus and transfer all athletes to neutral status.
The statement contains a lot of politics, there is no sport at all, and the organization is financed by the FairSport Foundation, established at one time to fight the participation of Russian athletes in international competitions.
Well, the US Secretary of State could not stand aside.
Anthony Blinken said that the Lukashenka regime wanted to commit another act of "transnational repression" by trying to force Olympic athlete Kristina Timanovskaya to leave the competition only for the exercise of the right to freedom of speech.
Such actions undermine the Olympic spirit, challenge basic rights, and cannot be tolerated.
What do we have in the bottom line?
The internal conflict in the national team became the reason for a new round of political and, give time, sanctions pressure on Belarus.
And no one had time, and did not want to understand anything.
The culprit is immediately appointed.
Was it possible not to wash dirty linen in public?
Of course you can.
Only in this case there would be no reason for the generous provision of a humanitarian visa and political asylum.
Timanovskaya, Tikhanovskaya - it makes no difference who exactly to use in the geopolitical struggle.
But the Latin dictum “seek who benefits” has not lost its relevance.
And the list of outraged countries is painfully familiar.
And, of course, Poland should be at the forefront.
Who else?
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.