The “zero Covid”, at all costs. To achieve their goal at the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese authorities have put in place a strict and distressing health bubble for all players (athletes, technicians, organizers or journalists). What about those found to be carrying the virus?
A positive test and the spiral begins. Corentin Blanc, waxer for the French Nordic combined team, has experienced this. Upon arrival at Beijing International Airport, his first PCR test turned out to be “inconclusive”. “But the next day, Friday February 4, I tested positive. I was able to go to work normally during the day before the result came in the evening. From then on, I was placed in a isolated hotel”, says the person concerned, still for the time being sidelined.
All those who test positive are thus accommodated in separate hotels, specially designed for this purpose. “There is nothing around, describes Corentin Blanc. My room is certainly worse than the one where I spent my first night, but it is correct. I have everything I need. But we’re not allowed to go out, so we can’t go to work.” The technician only receives information about the evolution of his situation in dribs and drabs. “But I’m lucky, put it into perspective in a tone of humour, I have two hours of sun in the morning. Some have windows that don’t open.”
/2022/02/11/phpSrbXvj.jpg)
With one less technician in its ranks, the French Nordic combined team is penalized. “They are doing well, having bigger days. As far as competitions are concerned, [lors de la première]on Wednesday, they asked a biathlon technician to come as reinforcements”, says Corentin Blanc.
A week after the start of his isolation, Corentin Blanc still does not know when he will be able to get out of it. For this, he needs two consecutive negative tests 24 hours apart, and does not feel any symptoms. In the meantime, Corentin Blanc does with the means at hand in his space of 15 square meters. “I watch movies, the Games events on TV, and I manage to run. I managed to do a 10 km in my room. It represents a lot of round trips”, he quips.
Corentin Blanc cannot, however, hide a certain weariness, while athletes have expressed their dismay on social networks. The German Eric Frenzel, three-time Olympic champion and seven-time Nordic combined world champion, is one of the private competitive athletes.
Also tested positive for Covid-19, he was placed in isolation “in a room of seven square meters. He does not have WI-FI and therefore cannot even call his relatives. This is unacceptable”, declares to franceinfo: sport Fabrice Guy, Olympic champion in Nordic combined in 1992, and consultant for France Télévisions.
Same scenario for the Belgian athlete Kim Meylemans. The skeleton specialist had contracted Covid-19 in early January, but left confidently for China after carrying out twelve negative tests. Arriving in Beijing, she was again declared positive, a case far from isolated. Chinese PCR tests are indeed very sensitive and detect traces of the virus weeks after infection, when the patient is no longer contagious.
After three days in solitary confinement and three negative tests, Kim Meylemans thought he would regain some of his freedom, as the protocol stipulates. On the contrary, she was transferred to another hotel to continue her isolation. Upset and at the end of her tether, the Belgian confided in her Instagram account on February 2, in tears. “I’m supposed to stay there for seven days in isolation with two daily PCR tests, with no contact. I can go train on the track… but alone. I still don’t know if I will be able to go to the village [olympique]“.
“It’s very hard for me, (…) I’m not sure I can bear to stay here for the next fortnight…”
Kim Meylemans, Belgian athlete, skeleton specialiston his Instagram account
However, the story ended well for Kim Meylemans, who was able to go out and train this week in Yanqing. In an Instagram post (content in English)Thursday, she announced her participation in the competition, confiding her motivation and her excitement increased tenfold after the “chinese quarantine chaos”.