Small and dirty rooms
Germans complain about “unreasonable” isolation
02/05/2022, 10:38 am
There are now more than 300 corona cases at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. All those who tested positive must be in isolation, mostly in special hotels. Criticism of the conditions is fierce, the Germans talk about rooms that are too small, dirty and don’t allow training.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) is working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing to improve the quarantine conditions for its three athletes who have tested positive. The isolation room of the three-time Olympic champion Eric Frenzel was “unacceptable,” said Chef de Mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig. The Nordic combined athlete had tested positive for the corona virus when he arrived.
Frenzel’s room is too small to keep fit for a possible return to competition in the second week of the Olympics. According to Schimmelpfennig, the cleanliness also left a lot to be desired. “It is important to us that the framework conditions in the quarantine are good,” said Schimmelpfennig. “It is important that the three athletes have the perspective of returning to the competition and being able to continue to prepare physically for it.” The team doctor of the Nordic Combined, Pecher, said: “Yesterday the situation was very bad. When I got the first videos, I was a bit surprised,” said the doctor. It wasn’t exactly “a grand hotel”.
Like his teammate Terence Weber, who was able to isolate himself in his room at the team hotel due to his borderline CT value, and figure skater Nolan Seegert, Frenzel is symptom-free. Both combined athletes will miss the first competition on the normal hill on Wednesday. “Health definitely comes before a gold medal, I have to protect it,” said team doctor Stefan Pecher.
WiFi is also insufficient
Seegert, who was the first German athlete caught in Beijing, has been waiting for better equipment in isolation for days. He has now received stronger WiFi, and a solution for “a larger room” with training equipment is emerging, said Schimmelpfennig.
All athletes who test positive need two negative tests within 24 hours or three tests with a CT value higher than 35 in order to be able to leave the quarantine. Whether they then return to the competitions is decided in consultation with the doctors. The following applies: “Safety first,” said DOSB doctor Bernd Wolfarth: “When the quarantine is formally over, they are clinically examined, and then we weigh up what the return-to-play protocol looks like on a case-by-case basis.”
The German bobsledders and tobogganists had already complained about the unacceptable conditions in Beijing during the pre-Olympic test competitions. “We have placed this critical feedback with the IOC and requested optimization,” he explained. Apparently these were only partially implemented.