His tears made social networks and sports authorities react: the Belgian Kim Meylemans, placed in solitary confinement after testing positive for Covid-19 on his arrival in Beijing, believes he has experienced “hell” due to the drastic health protocol of the Olympic Games-2022. Meylemans, who must participate in the women’s skeleton event, ended up integrating the night of Wednesday to Thursday at the Olympic village of Yanqing, one of the three Olympic competition sites which kick off on Friday.
“At 11:25 p.m. last night there was a knock on my door, I was escorted to the Olympic Village, I’m still in solitary confinement, but at least I’m in the Olympic Village and I’m in a position to train better “, she said. The day before, she had expressed her dismay on her Instagram account where in tears, she had explained that she “had to stay seven days in this (quarantine hotel), without any outside contact, without being sure of being able to go to the Village. Olympic”.
Twelve negative tests before arriving in Beijing
“It’s very hard for me, I’m not sure I can manage the 14 days of the Olympics while being in solitary confinement”, she explained then., Meylemans, who had contracted Covid-19 in early January, said explained in another message entitled “hell” to have carried out twelve PCR tests, all negative, before his departure for China. But she was declared positive on her arrival in Beijing and placed in solitary confinement for three days.
Despite three consecutive negative tests, she remained in solitary confinement, which prompted her to publish her video viewed nearly 20,000 times. The health protocol of the 2022 Olympics provides that in the event of a positive test on arrival, an athlete will be transported to a hotel for isolation and may leave after two negative PCR tests, separated by at least 24 hours.
“The IOC neglects the rights of athletes”
Rob Koehler, director of Global Athlete, an association that defends the rights of athletes, was then moved by her fate: “She should never have experienced this, the IOC neglects the rights of athletes”., The Belgian Olympic Committee (COIB) also regretted the treatment of its representative, whose competition begins on February 11.
“We understand that the Covid measures are necessary to preserve the safety and health of participants in the Olympic Games, but we believe that in this approach the athlete must remain central,” said the COIB. , Without commenting on this specific case, the president of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach acknowledged in the evening “the extremely difficult mental situation” of the athletes who arrived in China after having passed through qualifications and logistical adventures, but who remain under the threat of contamination. likely to “destroy, or at least compromise (their) Olympic dream”.