Beijing Olympics 2022: China accused of ignoring hockey player’s human rights in COVID isolation

The coach of Finland’s men’s ice hockey team has accused China of disregarding a player’s human rights while keeping him in isolation under COVID requirements at the Beijing Olympics.

Athlete Marko Anttila is under tremendous mental stress and ‘was not getting good food’, coach Jukka Jalonen said during an online media interaction, according to a Reuters report. 

“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go and that’s why we think that China, for some reason, they won’t respect his human rights and that’s not a great situation,” he said.

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A team doctor informed that Anttila was kept in isolation despite no longer being infectious. He had tested positive for the virus about three weeks ago. 

In line with the ‘closed loop’ protocol in place for the Winter Olympics, players or staff members testing positive on arrival in China are required to isolate until they test negative in two RT-PCR tests 24 hours apart. 

Complaints regarding the quarantine conditions and the rigid protocol have arisen in the last few days, after over 350 players tested positive upon arrival since January 25. 

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For instance, Germany team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig said the conditions for the athletes from his country, including triple Olympic gold medalist Eric Frenzel, were ‘unacceptable’. He urged the authorities for cleaner and bigger rooms, better food, sports equipment, and working internet. 

“We have succeeded since yesterday in achieving a marked improvement in conditions for the athletes,” he told reporters.

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“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, according to Reuters. 

Responding to the concerns, Beijing Games spokesperson Zhao Weidong, “We are in a process of addressing these problems.”