A Belarusian athlete and her family feel they have been forced to flee their homeland for political reasons.
Darya Dolidovich was barred from competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this month by her own country.
Now, the 17-year-old cross-county skier and her family have sought refuge in Poland after uprooting their lives to run away from Belarus.
Reuters reports they took the decision to flee their homeland over fears that they would face reprisals from the Belarusian government over the family's political views.
Sergei Dolidovich, Darya's father, took part in protests two years ago against the re-election of president Alexander Lukashenko.
The president's opponents claim the election was rigged, though Lukashenko has persistently denied that the outcome of the vote was manufactured.
"Darya has been stripped of her right to take part in competitions," Dolidovich said. "I don't see the possibility of her continuing her career in Belarus.
"We could be accused of staging a demonstration and shouting (opposition) slogans, then just be sent to prison.
"Three months ago, I couldn't have imagined, even in a nightmare, that I would end up leaving my country."
Their move coincides with the Winter Olympics, which are currently taking place in Beijing.
Dolidovich had hoped to make her Games debut this year, following in the footsteps of her father who has an impressive amount of experience as a seven-time Olympian.
But in the build up to the event her FIS code – a number which individual athletes are required to supply in order to take part in International Ski Federation competitions – had been deactivated.
The Belarus Ski Union told her coaches that the decision to cancel the code had been made by the Belarus Cross-Country Skiing Federation, but did not give a reason why that action had been carried out.
A spokesperson for the International Ski Federation told Reuters it had requested further information from ski officials in Belarus, but that it had not yet heard back.
Not only has the move affected her skiing career, but Dolidovich's school work has also suffered now she has left her home country.
"I had planned to finish school in Belarus, but my parents said that we were moving," she said. "I'm upset, of course. It would have been simpler to stay a few months and finish school."
While she figures out how to continue her studies in Poland, she is also keen to get back to ski training in the hope of one day being able to compete in top competitions like the Winter Olympics.
