BEIJING –
Organizers of February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing mentioned Friday that two international athletes had examined optimistic for COVID-19 in ongoing check occasions for the Video games.
In addition they expressed sympathy for a Polish luge competitor who fractured his leg on the Olympics sliding middle this week in a crash that has been blamed on human error.
The 2 who examined optimistic are amongst 1,500 opponents and workers who’ve come into the nation because the check occasions started in early October, mentioned Huang Chun, the deputy director normal of the pandemic prevention workplace for the Video games.
He did not establish them or their nation, however mentioned that they had come on a chartered airplane for luge coaching and the World Cup. Neither confirmed signs and each had been allowed to coach, however they needed to keep in a quarantine resort and eat their meals alone.
China has among the many strictest COVID prevention insurance policies on the earth. Entry to the nation is restricted, and just about everybody who does should quarantine in a resort for at the very least two weeks, even when they’re vaccinated and check adverse.
The quarantine requirement is being waived for the check occasions and the Video games, however contributors should stay and compete in isolation from the remainder of the inhabitants in China. The athletes communicate to Beijing-based media over video, not in particular person.
“Closed loop administration not solely serves the Video games nicely, but in addition prevents additional unfold of the virus,” Huang mentioned. “That is our objective.”
Polish luge competitor Mateusz Sochowicz, who was twentieth in final season’s World Cup rankings, crashed right into a gate that ought to have been open on Monday on the sliding middle in Yanqing, the place the downhill ski occasions can even be held.
“We categorical our honest sympathy to the injured athlete,” mentioned Zhao Weidong, the director normal of the media division for the Video games. “Nobody desires to see athletes injured.”
Yao Hui, the director of venue administration, declined to offer additional particulars on the crash past what has been launched by the Worldwide Luge Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee.
He mentioned that medical employees had been on the scene inside three minutes and that an ambulance took Sochowicz to a hospital in 19 minutes regardless of the mountainous terrain. He was anticipated to be discharged from the hospital Friday, Yao mentioned.
