Bitter Olympic wasteland
Frenzel is still locked up in the middle of nowhere
2/11/2022 4:54 p.m
For Eric Frenzel, hopes for sport in Beijing are dwindling. For the three-time Olympic champion, waiting for the negative PCR test is becoming an ordeal. Quasi locked away, he has to endure in the remote isolation hotel. Another German can breathe a sigh of relief.
An ocher block in the middle of nowhere, about ten stories high. The view from the window falls on bare hills. Nothing to see of snow, of a cross-country ski run. Instead, white and yellow warning tape, red warning signs, surveillance cameras. Quarantine in the wilderness instead of gold hunting on the big Olympic stage – this is how Eric Frenzel’s Olympic reality still looks.
Athletes, supervisors and media representatives are also quartered in Zhangjiakou in a similarly dreary environment, because there is nothing beautiful about the ski region north of Beijing. But unlike Frenzel, they are all allowed out of their booth. And with every day, with every further test with a CT value below 35, the Saxon’s hope for a happy ending decreases.
“It’s getting more and more difficult,” Frenzel told ZDF with a view to the upcoming individual competition next Tuesday, the TV station had made its way to the isolation accommodation of the 33-year-old record world champion in Nordic combined. The Saxon would love to be part of the decision on the large hill and in the relay on Thursday. But for him it still means: wait and see instead of preparing. Frenzel’s positive test was announced on February 4th.
Seegert is finally allowed to train
The uncertainty of when they will finally be allowed to go out and start preparing for their competitions, for which they have geared everything, is affecting the athletes. At least for one, the agonizing wait came to an end on Friday after nine days. Pair runner Nolan Seegert, the first German corona case of these winter games, was allowed to leave the quarantine.
Seegert, who has had a CT reading above 35 for three consecutive days, is now being treated as a close contact. He is allowed to take part in training and competitions with his partner Minerva Haase, but remains separate from the team.
Frenzel, whose wife and children had also endured deprivation for the Olympics, hasn’t got that far yet. Frenzel, who tries to keep his fitness level at the highest level in his comfortable room, spoke of a “very, very big shock”. “I can’t complain. I have everything I need,” the Saxon had recently said.
After an initially “unreasonable” isolation room, as Chef de Mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig from the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) estimated, Frenzel quickly got a larger room. Frenzel, who only saw Vinzenz Geiger’s sensational gold run in the first decision from an agonizingly long distance, uses an ergometer, a fitness mat and a fascia roller. He still has hope that it will look different from the large hill.