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On Wednesday, the presumption became a certainty: Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko (66) can be sworn in for another term despite massive mass protests. After the false presidential election and the violence, torture and arbitrary arrests of protesters in the country, the next low point.
Now the country’s athletes are also raising their voices. “We are past the tipping point, there is no turning back,” Yelena Leuchanka, part of the Olympic basketball team, tells “dw.com.” “We live in the 21st century, we are in Europe, how is it possible? There are no human rights here. We cannot protest peacefully. “
Sport as an image product
Almost 600 athletes from across the country have signed an open letter calling for new elections and an end to police violence. The athletes who appear under the name “Unión Libre de Atletas” seem willing to go very far and even jeopardize their careers. The consequences can include a possible refusal to play for the national team if Lukashenko and his henchmen want to punish athletes for doing so.
That would be quite painful for the dictator: he repeatedly uses sport to represent himself and his regime in a positive way. More recently, for example, at the “European Games” in Minsk in 2019. Or next spring, when Belarus and Latvia will host the Ice Hockey World Cup together.
Where are Azarenka and Domracheva?
“This is something completely new for many sports partners and also for me,” says Leuchanka, who represented his country at the Olympics with the basketball team. “We try to support our people as much as possible.”
What’s missing: help from the country’s great sports stars. Tennis player Victoria Azarenka, for example. Or the multiple Olympic biathlon champion Darya Domracheva. Neither of them really dares to take cover until now. The situation in Belarus is “heartbreaking,” Azarenka said at the US Open in New York. She didn’t say anything else. “I respect them as athletes and what they have accomplished for our country,” says Leuchanka. “But our sport is only popular when there are people who cheer you on.” Now athletes have a challenge. “And also the great athletes of our country that people look up to. Your voices matter. Your voices can make a difference. “
