By Ilze Filks
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Three-time gold medallist Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel of Germany said on Tuesday he still hoped to compete in the team event after spending more than 10 days in isolation following a positive COVID-19 test upon arrival in Beijing for the Olympics.
Frenzel landed in Beijing on Feb. 3 and tested positive. He was only released on Monday from his isolation accommodation where he had been staying for 11 days, shielded from the rest of his team.
Once he got cleared to leave isolation, he immediately headed out to the ski tracks.
“It was my wish yesterday, after the health checks, to go out on the tracks to build up some ‘feeling’ and for my body to be able to move outside of four walls,” Frenzel told a news conference.
“It was great even though it was very, very cold but it was nevertheless a bit of a highlight for me,” he said.
In an Instagram video post on the third day of his isolation, Frenzel said that testing positive for COVID despite having taken every precaution to avoid it for two years had come as a complete shock.
Doctors have now cleared him to compete and he hoped to make the team in the Gundersen Large Hill/4x5km cross country competition on Thursday.
“There are things that need to be sorted out first. As I said, I still haven’t been on the jump – that is in any case decisive,” said Frenzel, who has won three Olympic gold medals and six medals in total.
“The health checks were good and positive for me so the doctors have given me the go-ahead to exert myself and then, of course, I need to perform very good jumps because the boys, all who are here, are in really good shape and form.”
“So to even get a place is not that easy but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make myself available and then await the coach’s decision.”
In contrast to many countries seeking to live with COVID, China has isolated itself with a zero-tolerance policy, cancelling nearly all international flights. All Games participants, who arrive on special charter planes, are tested on a daily basis.
(Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Robert Birsel)
