The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) is working with the IOC and the organizing committee to improve the quarantine conditions for its three athletes who have tested positive. The isolation room of three-time Olympic champion Eric Frenzel was “unacceptable,” said Dirk Schimmelpfennig, the chef de mission, on Saturday.
Team doctor Stefan Pecher had previously spoken of very poor conditions. “The situation was very bad yesterday. When I got the first videos, I was a bit surprised,” said Pecher in Zhangjiakou. Frenzel is now “much better taken care of. We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that everything stays that way.”
Figure skater Nolan Seegert (right) is also waiting in Beijing for better equipment in his isolation.
(Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa)
Frenzel’s room is too small to keep fit for a possible return to competition in the second week of the Olympics. According to Schimmelpfennig, the cleanliness also left a lot to be desired. The DOSB had already requested improvements from the IOC after the test competitions for bobsleigh pilots and tobogganists last year, which were obviously only partially implemented. “It is important that the three athletes have the prospect of returning to the competition and being able to prepare further physically,” said Schimmelpfennig.
Team doctor Pecher also commented on the condition of the hotel: “It wasn’t exactly a grand hotel. I probably wouldn’t really want to vacation there with my family.”
“Health clearly comes before gold medals,” says the team doctor
According to Pecher, he has been looking after Frenzel for 17 years. “I’ve never seen him mentally in a situation like that,” he said: “Not in defeats, not in unlucky situations at World Cups or World Championships or Olympic Games. Mentally, he was really exhausted.”
Like teammate Terence Weber, who is isolating in his room at the team hotel, and figure skater Nolan Seegert, Frenzel is symptom-free. Both combined athletes will miss the first competition on the normal hill on Wednesday. “Health clearly comes before a gold medal, I have to protect it,” said Pecher. Seegert, who was the first German athlete caught in Beijing, has been waiting for better equipment in isolation for days. He has meanwhile received stronger WiFi, and a solution for “a larger room” with training equipment is in the offing, said Schimmelpfennig.
All athletes who test positive need two negative tests within 24 hours or three tests with a CT value (which determines viral load) higher than 35 in order to be able to leave the quarantine. Whether they then return to the competitions is decided in consultation with the doctors.