By Karolos Grohmann
BEIJING (Reuters) – Germany are satisfied with a swift improvement of isolation conditions for their three athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in quarantine at the Beijing Winter Olympics, team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig said on Sunday.
But other athletes, including Finnish ice hockey player Marko Anttila, are still struggling with their own isolation quarters and the level of services provided by organisers.
Schimmelpfennig on Saturday had called conditions for triple Olympic gold medalist Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel and two other German athletes “unacceptable”, demanding a complete overhaul including bigger and cleaner rooms, a working internet connection, sports equipment and better food.
On Sunday Schimmelpfennig said organisers had acted quickly following a concerted effort by the team, the ski federation and the International Olympic Committee.
“We have succeeded since yesterday in achieving a marked improvement in conditions for the athletes,” he told reporters.
“Now the athletes have a satisfying framework of conditions. They have bigger rooms now, working wifi, an exercise bike in the room so we have appropriate and satisfying conditions in a very difficult situation for the athletes,” he said.
Apart from Frenzel, who has won six Olympic medals in total, Germany teammate Terence Weber as well as figure skater Nolan Seegert are also in quarantine, hoping to recover in time for their competitions.
But for Finland’s Anttila some issues remain, mainly with regard to the quality of food on offer.
“He is not getting great food and he is a very big guy,” said Finland ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen. “He would like to have more energy and better food there as well. Because he doesn’t know what’s going on and what will happen with him. It is like uncertainties so it is a bad thing also mentally.”
More than 350 Games participants, including dozens of athletes, have tested positive upon arrival in the Chinese capital since Jan. 23.
Athletes wanting to leave the special quarantine hotels must be free of symptoms and deliver two negative PCR tests 24 hours apart.
“We are in a process of addressing these problems,” said Zhao Weidong, Beijing Games spokesperson.
“We are addressing a lot of the problems. On food for example we have taken the decision that the athlete (Frenzel) can order food from the menu of our Olympic (athletes’) village and get food delivered to that isolation facility.”
(Additional reporting by Ilze Filks in Beijing; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
