China’s uncompromising COVID-19 controls at Beijing 2022 are pushing Olympians to their limits

Weeks-long isolation, repeat stints in quarantine and sub-par meals - these are conditions that some Olympic athletes snared in Beijing’s stringent system for controlling COVID-19 say they are contending with, and some are pushing back.

Finnish ice hockey head coach Jukka Jalonen on Sunday accused China of “not respecting human rights” for keeping his star player Marko Anttila in isolation for more than two weeks, leaving the athlete, who tested positive for the virus, out of commission into the first weekend of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Watch the video above for more on China’s hardline zero-COVID policy

Watch the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on Channel 7 and stream it for free on 7plus >>

“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go, and that’s why we think that China, for some reason, won’t respect his human rights, and that’s not a great situation,” Jalonen told reporters Sunday, adding that according to his team doctor, Anttila was no longer infectious after first testing positive 18 days earlier.

Beijing has pushed back on the characterisation, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday stressing controls put in place by the organising committee for the Beijing Games were meant “to reduce the risk of infection as much as possible, and ensure the safe and smooth running of the Games as scheduled,” while safeguarding the health of all those involved and in the host city.

The hockey star is one of 159 athletes or team officials who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Beijing as of Tuesday morning local time.

Overall, some 393 Olympics-related personnel and other stakeholders have received that result, picked up in arrival screenings and daily tests - a key pillar of Beijing’s Olympic’s bubble.

Th