Two Belarusian athletics coaches who tried to kidnap sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya from the Tokyo Olympics have been sent home in disgrace.
Artur Shumak, head coach of the athletics team, and Yuri Moisevich, deputy director of the country's athletics academy, were spotted at Tokyo's Narita airport checking in for a flight on Friday.
It comes a day after the pair were stripped of their Olympic accreditation and kicked out of Athlete's Village for trying to force 24-year-old Tsimanouskaya on to a plane home after she criticised them online.
The International Olympic Committee has also launched disciplinary proceedings against the pair. It is unclear what action, if any, they are facing back home.
Artur Shumak and Yuri Moisevich, the two Belarus coaches who tried to kidnap sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya from the Tokyo Olympics, left the event in disgrace today
The pair were pictured at Tokyo's Narita airport boarding a flight back home, a day after they were stripped of accreditation and kicked out of Athlete's Village
Shumak (left) and Moisevich (right) said nothing as they were followed through the airport by journalists documenting their inglorious exit
The pair had tried to force Tsimanouskaya on to a plane back to Belarus on Sunday where 'punishment' awaited her after she criticised them online
The coaches showed little emotion as cameras captured their inglorious exit from the Games with their faces hidden behind masks.
Belarus's Olympic committee - headed up by dictator Alexander Lukashenko's son Viktor - said the two coaches will return to Minsk immediately.
A spokesman added that they can appeal the decision and hope to continue a dialogue with the IOC.
IOC president Thomas Bach called Tsimanouskaya's case 'deplorable' on Friday and said the disciplinary commission over her case would continue.
'We are happy Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is safe in Poland,' Bach said.
Narita airport is on the outskirts of Tokyo, 40 miles from Haneda airport where drama played out with Tsimanouskaya a little under a week ago.
Shumak and Moisevich had dragged the sprinter to the airport on Sunday after receiving an order from above that she should be sent home.
According to Tsimanouskaya's version of events, the duo told her that she was facing 'punishment' over an Instagram post that she had uploaded criticising them.
Tsimanouskaya hit out after being entered into the 4x400m relay without her knowledge - an event she has never trained for - because the coaches had failed to provide enough anti-doping information to allow other athletes to compete.
Tsimanouskaya is now in Poland, having handed herself over to Japanese police who helped her reach the country's embassy in Tokyo where she was granted asylum
The 24-year-old gave a press conference in Warsaw Thursday alongside Belarus's exiled culture minister (left), urging other people to speak out against the regime
Once at the airport, Tsimanouskaya had refused to board the plane and instead handed herself over to Japanese police, saying she was being taken against her will.
She was taken to an airport hotel for the night under police guard, and the following day was taken to the Polish embassy, where she claimed asylum.
Poland - which has taken in a number of dissidents who have fled the Lukashenko regime - subsequently offered her a humanitarian visa and she boarded a flight to Europe on Wednesday.
But, rather than fly straight to Warsaw, Tsimanouskaya went via a last-minute diversion to Austria - an apparent attempt to stop Lukashenko from hijacking the flight, as he did in May with a Ryanair plane carrying an opposition journalist.
The athlete arrived safely in Poland on Thursday where she will now begin a new life with husband Arseny Zdanevich, who fled Belarus for Ukraine after learning that she was being targeted by the regime.
He is currently en route to Poland, and is due to arrive there today.
Speaking at a press conference in Warsaw on Thursday, she said she was happy to
