Why Belarusian Olympian Krystsina Tsimanouskaya Is Auctioning Medal After Seeking Asylum

After receiving asylum in Poland, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is giving back to her community.

The Olympic star, who was afraid she would face punishment if she returned to her homeland Belarus because she said something about her coaches on social media, has decided to auction off something very important to her. That is her silver medal she won at the 2019 European Games. She’ll put it on the auction block in order to raise money for the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), according to an email from the organization to Yahoo Sports.

The foundation for BSSF was created in 2020 by sports officials and athletes with founding members including Olympic medalists. According to the website, their goal is to “provide support to the athletes who were detained and faced repressions for taking part in peaceful manifestations, excluded from the national teams, scratched from competitions, sacked, or stripped from stipends or salaries for expressing their political views.”

On the website eBay, the Krystsina’s medal has already received a bid of more than $20,000 with nine days to go.

According to Yahoo, Tsimanouskaya told the BSSF that the European Games “were extremely important for me as they were held at the home arena” and members of her family came to “cheer” for her.

“I remember, when I was running the relay and only about 80 meters of the distance were left, I felt I was running out of power. At that moment I heard that the stadium was exploding by how loudly people were rooting for me.”