quarantine agony
Frustrated record world champion Frenzel misses the first Olympic singles
Saxony, Klingenthal: Eric Frenzel from Germany on the route. The 33-year-old record world champion, who won in Pyeongchang four years ago, will definitely miss the first individual on the normal hill on Wednesday.
© Hendrik Schmidt / DPA
Eric Frenzel, who was infected with the corona virus, will definitely miss the first Olympic competition. The team doctor and sports management rule out an assignment. Another combined athlete will be heading to Beijing on Sunday.
The corona-positive Olympic champion Eric Frenzel is struggling with the quarantine situation and will not be able to repeat his gold coup on the normal hill. The nightmare start in China took the nordic combined pretty hard. “I’ve never seen him mentally in such a situation,” said team doctor Stefan Pecher, who claims to have been looking after Frenzel for 17 years. “Not in defeats, not in unlucky situations at World Cups or World Championships or Olympic Games. Mentally he was really exhausted.”
The 33-year-old record world champion, who won this discipline four years ago in Pyeongchang, will definitely miss the first individual on the normal hill on Wednesday. This also applies to Terence Weber, who also tested positive. “I can’t release them for the first competition, so I have to protect them,” said Pecher on Saturday in Zhangjiakou.
After consultation with national coach Hermann Weinbuch and the team management, this was “definitely impossible”. It’s not about CT values, but also “about medical history and the safety of the athletes”. For the other competitions on February 15th and 17th he was “in good spirits”, said Pecher. The two top performers Frenzel and Weber only tested positive for the corona virus after they entered China.
Manuel Faißt should move up
Manuel Faißt, who is due to travel from Zurich to the Chinese capital via Milan on Sunday, has now been nominated. This was confirmed by team manager Horst Hüttel. It is still unclear whether the 29-year-old will actually be used. Because of a special rule, according to which an athlete would have to be deleted if Faißt was accepted, this had to be weighed up. Hüttel described that there are still negotiations on this point. “The wires are running at full speed.”
National coach Hermann Weinbuch has already signaled that he only wants to make such a swap if it can be reversed, stressed Hüttel. Because of the rule, it is quite possible that you only start with three athletes in the first individual. Vinzenz Geiger, Johannes Rydzek and Julian Schmid were nominated for the games alongside Frenzel and Weber.
Team doctor Pecher described what the initial conditions in the quarantine hotel looked like. “Yesterday the situation was very bad. When I got the first videos, I was a bit surprised,” said the doctor. It wasn’t exactly “a grand hotel”. In the meantime, however, conditions have improved. Pecher said: “We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that everything stays that way.” Unlike Frenzel, Weber isolated himself in the team quarters.
German Olympic Sports Confederation is trying to improve
Meanwhile, the German Olympic Sports Confederation is making intensive efforts to improve the quarantine conditions for Frenzel. Chef de Mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig described them as “unreasonable” on Saturday. Therefore, the DOSB is already in intensive exchange with the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic organizers in order to “accelerate the remedy”.
This not only applies to the Nordic combined athletes, but also to the figure skater Nolan Seegert, who has already had to spend three days in the isolation hotel and is now getting a larger room and training equipment. “It is important to us that the framework conditions in the quarantine are good,” said Schimmelpfennig. “It is important that the three athletes have the perspective of returning to the competition and being able to continue to prepare physically for it.” He is convinced that solutions will be found “that are appropriate”.
Criticism of quarantine conditions
The German bobsledders and tobogganists had already complained about the unacceptable conditions in Beijing during the pre-Olympic test competitions. “We have placed this critical feedback with the IOC and requested optimization,” he explained.