By Rita Li
February 7, 2022 Updated: February 8, 2022
China
has been accused of violating the human rights of a Finnish ice hockey player
who has been held in hotel quarantine in
Beijing.
The
accusation comes as complaints pile up over poor conditions for Winter Olympic
athletes during COVID-19 isolation. Those complaints include issues with food,
hygiene, and equipment for training.
“For
some reason, [China] won’t respect his human rights, and that’s not a great
situation,” Jukka Jalonen, head coach of the Finnish men’s ice hockey team,
said in a Feb. 6 press conference via Zoom.
Marko
Anttila, a ninth-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL draft,
was “not getting good food,” and was under tremendous mental stress, according
to Jalonen.
“I
spoke to him yesterday,” the coach said. “Marko is a strong guy, mentally. He is
not depressed, but he’s pretty down. A couple of times a day, he gets cold and
tasteless spaghetti bolognese.”
Anttila
remained absent while his teammates trained at the National Indoor Stadium in
Beijing. The country’s first game at the Beijing Winter Olympics is set for
Feb. 10 against Slovakia, but Anttila must show two negative PCR tests 24
hours apart before being released from quarantine.
The
athlete tested positive 18 days ago, upon his arrival in China, after several
negative tests prior to his departure for Beijing, according to team doctor
Maarit Valtonen.
“We are
very helpless, and we want Marko out of isolation,” Valtonen said.
Anttila
is no longer infectious, and the continuing isolation is “not medically
justified,” according to the doctor.
“Now,
it looks like it’s more of a culture and a policy,” he said. “The attitude
towards the virus is different here.”
More
than 350 Winter Olympic participants, including dozens of athletes, have tested
positive in Beijing since Jan. 23.
‘Horror’ Story
Polish
short-track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska posted on Twitter that her Olympic
journey had turned into a “horror” story after she tested positive on Jan. 30.
“At
3:00 am [on Feb. 5], people pull me out of solitary,” Maliszewska wrote,
recalling her days in an isolation hotel room. “That night was a horror.”
She was
finally cleared to compete on Feb. 7.
“I was
crying like crazy because I didn’t know what was going on. I did not feel safe
at all,” she said after being cleared.
Maliszewska
said she slept with clothes on afterward, being afraid that someone would
suddenly take her to solitary confinement again.
The
skater was excluded from taking part in the 500-meter heat races on Feb. 5.
Maliszewska said she was ruled in and out of the Games several times because of
conflicting COVID-19 test results.
“I
don’t believe all those tests now,” she said.
International
Olympic Committee (IOC) Sports Director Kit McConnell told a news conference on
Feb. 7 that the committee held a call with Olympic officials from countries
represented at the Games to understand issues that the athletes are facing.
Besides
the two recent cases, team members from other countries also expressed
frustration over quarantine conditions.
Germany’s
team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig told reporters on
Feb. 5 that cleanliness, the quality of food, and Wi-Fi conditions were in need
of immediate improvement. He then confirmed a day later that organizers had
acted and improved conditions for the isolated athletes.
Russian
biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova said from one of the hotels that her
stomach hurt.
“I’m
very pale, and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to
end. I cry every day. I’m very tired,” she said on Instagram.
Swedish
journalist Philip Gadd was whisked off to isolation in an ambulance when he
arrived in Beijing on Feb. 2.
“It was
a really terrifying experience and it just felt like … it didn’t feel real. It
felt like as if I was in a movie, a sci-fi movie or something,” Gadd said in a
Zoom interview from his quarantine hotel.
Reuters contributed to this report.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-accused-of-violating-human-rights-of-athletes-in-quarantine_4261078.html
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