Barely three days have passed since the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 and the organizers have already accumulated several criticisms from athletes and federations.
Most focus on the conditions suffered by participants in quarantine after testing positive for covid, although they also aspects such as the quality of the food and the holding of events under impracticable weather conditions are criticized.
It was known in advance that the athletes would spend difficult weeks in the Chinese capital.
The “zero covid” of the country gives little space to the free movement of participants, only authorized to leave the Olympic village to train, compete or return home.
On the other hand, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada imposed a diplomatic boycott and did not send official representatives to the event as a protest against the accusations human rights violations in China against Uyghurs, Tibetans and Taiwanese.
Now, these already controversial Olympics are further questioned by the harsh accusations launched by the participants, that the International Olympic Committee said to be attending .
Why do athletes criticize Beijing 2022?
Much of the discomfort among athletes points to the severe anticovid measures and the conditions they suffer in isolation if they test positive.
Eric Frenzel, three-time Olympic ski champion of the German federation, has been in quarantine since last Friday together to his partner Terence Weber.
The German team boss Dirk Schimmelpfennig said on Saturday that Frenzel’s isolation room was “unacceptable” and demanded immediate improvement.
“The room has to be big enough for your exercises, it has to be hygienically clean. Food needs to come more regularly and PCRs need to be done when we need them, twice a day,” Schimmelpfennig told the Reuters news agency.
More of 500 participants, including dozens of athletes, have tested positive for covid since their arrival to Beijing last January.
Positives must remain in quarantine until they are free of symptoms and test negative in two PCR tests separated by 24 hours.
But sometimes these rules can last for more than 20 days, much longer than what is considered the infectious period.
This Sunday , the coach of the Finnish ice hockey team, Jukka Jalonen, accused China of not respecting the rights of his player Mar ko Anttila, who leads isolated days despite the fact that the team doctor assures that he is no longer contagious.
In addition, he denounced that Anttila “ he is not getting enough food” and that he is under tremendous mental stress.
“We know that he is completely healthy and ready to leave and that is why we think that China, for some reason, does not respect their human rights,” Jalonen told the media via Zoom.
This Sunday, the International Olympic Committee assured that it was addressing the complaints of the athletes in isolation and said that it was working on having better food, cleaner rooms and greater access to training equipment.
“Crying like crazy”
The experience of the Polish speed skater Natalia Maliszewska, from 26 years, it has been even more “traumatic”.
Maliszewska tested positive for covid in the past 20 of January and their participation was ruled out.
However , was released on Friday night, before the qualifying race of 500 Saturday meters. A few hours before the event, she tested positive again and was denied the chance to compete.
“I don’t believe in testing anymore. I want explanations from the people who made me feel insecure, because now nobody says anything. They are quiet”, he said in statements collected by Reuters.
Maliszewska assures “having cried like crazy for not knowing what was happening”.
Other criticism
Anticovid measures have not been the only aspect criticized by the participants in Beijing .
Christian Schwaiger, coach of the German alpine ski team, denounced to journalists that “the catering is extremely questionable” and that he hopes that the “Olympic Committee will be able to provide hot food”.
“ There is no hot food. There are chips, some nuts, chocolate and nothing else. This shows a lack of attention in high competition sport”, he added.
On the other hand, the Swedish team has also complained about the extreme cold after the athlete Frida Karlsson appears trembling and near collapse after completing the test of 15 kilometers of skiathlon last Saturday.
According to the rules of the International Ski Federation , the minimum temperature to compete must be higher than -20ºC.
However, the winds can cause the thermal sensation is well below this requirement.
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