“You torture everyone involved”
Hackl Schorsch railed against the Olympics in China
01/22/2022, 4:59 p.m
Three-time Olympic luge champion Georg Hackl doesn’t think much of hosting the Olympic Games in China. The reason is the drastic handling of the corona pandemic in Beijing, including low limits for PCR tests. Hackl fears that half of the athletes are not allowed to start at all.
Luge legend Georg Hackl would not open the Winter Olympics in February and would postpone them because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Especially in a host country that is dealing with the pandemic so drastically, sets significantly lower limits for PCR tests than in Germany, takes athletes off the ice rink just before the start and locks them in quarantine, a major event like the Olympics is not feasible at all “said the three-time Olympic champion of “Welt am Sonntag”.
You can never rule out infections, said the 55-year-old, in the end half of the athletes might not be able to start at all. “That doesn’t make any sense to me. That’s why my idea would be to postpone the games because of the virus,” said the Berchtesgadener. “You’re not doing yourself any favors because you’re tormenting everyone involved. You just don’t torment the spectators. They shouldn’t come in the first place,” said the former world-class tobogganist about the major sporting event planned for February 4th to 20th.
“Like Astronauts”
There are still discussions about the corona limit values, which are assessed differently in China than in Europe. It is now important to know which limit values are the focus of the tests, said Bernd Eisenbichler, the sports director of the German biathletes. “We must avoid having a positive PCR test at Beijing airport from an athlete who has just boarded a plane with a negative PCR test,” said the official.
In the sports world, this topic is high on the agenda. Among other things, an international group of experts was set up to deal explicitly with the issue of limit values.
The lugers had experienced the restrictive corona policy of the Chinese during their test competitions in November. “It was strange. After the plane landed in Beijing, we had to stay in the cabin for a very long time. When I looked out the window at some point, I saw only hooded figures everywhere. I’m only there with fully masked people, i.e. people with white protective suits , face mask, plexiglass pane over it and rubber gloves. Like astronauts,” said Hackl. According to President Thomas Bach, the IOC reacted to athletes’ criticism of the circumstances in the test competitions and made improvements.