Freestyle skier Ramanouskaya fired from national team over protests

The freestyle world champion, recognized as the best athlete of 2019 in Belarus, Alyaksandra Ramanouskaya was fired from the national team - technically for absenteeism.

“Today at the meeting we were informed that Sasha Ramanouskaya was fired from the national team for absenteeism. She was informed about it last night,” head coach of the national team Mikalai Kazeka told TUT.by.

The national team is subordinate to the Ministry of Sports. But it transferred these powers to the National Center for Olympic Training. The dismissal order was signed by the new director of the Center.

According to Kazeka, Ramanouskaya is now undergoing rehabilitation after an injury.

“Officially, Alyaksandra Ramanouskaya was fired for absenteeism. But in fact, Sasha had a force majeure situation. Her father had a stroke, there was no one to take him to the hospital. Alyaksandra was doing this. She called and explained, but no one at the NCOT paid attention," explains Kazeka.

According to the coach, the order will take effect on October 16. Kazeka himself calls such a decision biased and states that it will be disputed.

Earlier, Ramanouskaya condemned the violence by the Belarusian authorities against the participants in peaceful protests.

Recently, the International Olympic Committee said that it would react if athletes were expelled from the Belarusian national teams for their political views.