Olympic Team Accuses China of Ignoring Player's Human Rights
The Beijing Olympics have already been a hotbed of international controversy, and that was largely before any athletes even arrived on-site.
Much of the trouble has arisen from the international community’s constant and righteous condemnation of China’s history of human rights abuses and genocide, and their intolerance toward those who seek to expose their dirty deeds. Athletes competing in the games have been warned not to speak out during their time in China, lest they wish to be whisked away by authorities.
Now, to make matters worse, athletes currently in COVID-19 isolation are complaining that their human rights are not being respected by their host nation.
The coach of the Finland men’s ice hockey team accused China of not respecting a player’s human rights on Sunday as complaints about COVID-19 isolation protocols piled up at the Winter Games.
Finnish head coach Jukka Jalonen said Marko Anttila, a ninth-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2004 NHL draft, was “not getting good food” and was under tremendous mental stress. read more
“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go and that’s why we think that China, for some reason, they won’t respect his human rights and that’s not a great situation,” head coach Jalonen said on a Zoom call with media.
Anttila wasn’t the only athlete complaining.
On Saturday, Germany’s team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig called conditions for triple Olympic gold medallist Eric Frenzel and two other German athletes “unacceptable”.
He demanded a complete overhaul including bigger and cleaner rooms, a working internet connection, sports equipment and better food. read more
Schimmelpfennig said on Sunday that organisers had acted after being contacted by the team, the ski federation and the IOC.
Earlier in the games, a Dutch reporter was shoved and harassed by Chinese security forces while live and on-the-air, leading many to wonder if China would truly be able to but on a facade of fairness and freedom during their time in the Olympic spotlight.
