Olympics-Germany's Hoelz expresses doubts over Beijing COVID tests

"I doubt that we will see fair play in the competitions in China," Hoelz said in a Snowboarding Germany podcast on Sunday. "It is relatively easy with (COVID-19) testing, someone can later say: 'We're sorry, it was a false positive'." Hoelz could not be reached by Reuters for further comment on the opinions outlined on the podcast, and he offered no details or names to back up his allegations. Snowboarding Germany did not immediately answer an email from Reuters requesting more details.


Reuters | Berlin | Updated: 24-01-2022 03:31 IST | Created: 24-01-2022 03:28 IST
Olympics-Germany's Hoelz expresses doubts over Beijing COVID tests
  • Country:
  • Germany

Snowboarding Germany president Michael Hoelz has expressed doubts about fair play at the Winter Olympics set to start on Feb. 4 in Beijing, fearing that COVID-19 tests will be exploited to exclude strong athletes.

Hoelz's comments came two weeks after the director of the alpine skiing division of Germany's Ski Association Wolfgang Maier voiced concerns that COVID-19 tests in China were being run almost "arbitrarily" ahead of the Winter Olympics. "I doubt that we will see fair play in the competitions in China," Hoelz said in a Snowboarding Germany podcast on Sunday.

"It is relatively easy with (COVID-19) testing, someone can later say: 'We're sorry, it was a false positive'." Hoelz could not be reached by Reuters for further comment on the opinions outlined on the podcast, and he offered no details or names to back up his allegations.

Snowboarding Germany did not immediately answer an email from Reuters requesting more details. There was no immediate reaction from the Beijing Olympic organisers when contacted by Reuters. In a separate statement on Sunday, organisers said that there had been no positive tests among the 171 athletes and team officials who arrived in China between Jan. 4 and Jan. 22 for next month's Games.

Hoelz, previously a leading official in Germany's National Anti Doping Agency (NADA), said doping tests had been used in the past to ensure important athletes would not take part in the Games. "We know how the topic of doping is dealt with in countries with such constitutions... A comparison between doping and COVID-19 tests is absolutely in order," he said, without offering further justification for the comparison.

Hoelz said a German snowboarding coach had received inhumane treatment after testing positive during Olympic tests in China in November. He was later found to be a false positive. "How (the snowboarding trainer) was treated for 24 hours, that's really borderline when it comes to human dignity," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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