The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, have come under fire after athletes leaked images of the food on offer.
2022 Winter Olympics dragged for catering dull food
The Winter Games kicked off on Friday 4 February 2022 and are scheduled to run until Sunday 20 February 2022. However, before participating, athletes from around the world had to endure a long and arduous quarantine period.
This is where the nightmare started for Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova. Taking to Instagram, the 25-year-old shared an image of the food she was served at one of the local hotels designated for mandatory quarantine.
Suffice it to say, the food was far from edible. The serving came in styrofoam container and included a brown gooey sauce, baby potatoes, a piece of boiled chicken, dry pasta and unappetising lamb chops.
“My stomach hurts. I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired,” she wrote on one of her Instagram posts.
Athletes from Germany and Belgium also complained about the conditions they endured in quarantine. Not only was the food inedible, but it’s claimed the hotels offered no internet connection and for days, athletes had no training equipment to help prepare for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
From what we understand, athletes from specific countries are forced to endure mandatory quarantine until they can each could produce two negative PCR test results.
Thereafter, they are moved to the Olympic Village where, it’s said, conditions are favourable.
This, however, is not the process Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans underwent. The 25-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 and was held in quarantine until she tested negative.
When she did produce a negative PCR test result, Meylemans was removed from the quarantine hotel and, instead of being moved to the Olympic Village, where she thought she was headed, Beijing health officials transferred her to another isolation facility, where she was told she’d spend seven days.
Meylemans’ public documentation of the ordeal forced Olympic organisers to intervene and, days later, the Belgian was transferred to an isolation unit within the Olympic Village.