Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty
Competitors that return a positive COVID-19 test are isolated in buildings separate from the Olympics bubble to avoid further transmission of the virus. However, some facilities lack proper living conditions, from the food served to the absence of training equipment, according to some individuals.
Additionally, some athletes with COVID-19 are reportedly allowed to remain in the Olympic village while others are taken to the hotels, according to the Associated Press.
German delegation head Dirk Schimmelpfennig hascriticized the “unreasonable” conditionsfollowing Nordic combined star Eric Frenzel’s experience at one of the hotels, according to the FAZ newspaper. Among his demands are larger and more “hygienically clean” rooms and more regular food deliveries for those in quarantine.
Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty
Russian Olympic Committee biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova also took issue with the food provided at the facilities. On Thursday, she shared a photo on Instagram of what she ate for “breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already” — plain pasta, an orange-colored sauce, a cut of burned meat left on the bone, and some potatoes.
“My stomach hurts, I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end,” Vasnetsova said in the post, per the AP. “I cry every day. I’m very tired.”
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Vasnetsova called it “impossible” to eat most of the food on her tray, but on Thursday, she “ate all the fat they serve instead of meat because I was very hungry.” She also claimed to have lost weight to the point where “my bones are already sticking out,” the AP reports.
In another photo, Vasnetsova showed a meal provided to her team doctor, who was quarantining two floors beneath her. She claimed some athletes are getting worse food than others.
“I honestly don’t understand, why is there this attitude to us, the athletes?!” she wrote, per the AP.
After Vasnetsova called out the conditions, Russian Olympic Committee biathlon team spokesperson Sergei Averyanov shared a photo of a new meal being provided to the athlete: salmon, cucumbers, sausages, and yogurt. He said a stationary bike will be delivered to her soon, as well.
“Our main objective has always been to ensure that any isolation period is undertaken in the best conditions possible and that the athletes, in particular, can receive not only suitable food, but also training equipment, in line with their needs,” they continue.
Meanwhile, Belgian skeleton athlete Kim Meylemans went through an entirely different ordeal. On Wednesday, the athlete believed she was being brought back to the Olympic Villiage after spending three days in isolation and repeatedly testing negative, but was insteadtaken to another facilityfor an additional isolation period.
Meylemans tearfully detailed the experience ina video on her Instagram pagethat same night. “We are not even sure I will ever be allowed to return to the Village,” she said before asking her followers to give her time to consider her next steps, “because I’m not sure I can handle 14 more days in the Olympic competition while being [in] this isolation.”
Later that night, Meylemans was brought to the village and felt “safe” after settling in,Yahoo! Sportsreported.
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source: people.com
