Finland's men's hockey coach says human rights being ignored at Olympics

It was likely only a matter of time before complaints like these started coming out of the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing. Jukka Jalonen, head coach of the Finnish men's Olympic hockey team, is not at all happy with the treatment of player Marko Anttila, who is in isolation.

"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," said Jalonen during a Zoom call with reporters.

According to the Finnish team's doctor, Anttila was no longer infectious but continued to be kept in COVID-19 isolation after testing positive 18 days ago. Jalonen said he's been talking to Antila a couple of time a day and described his current situation.

"He told me that a couple of times a day they serve him a moderately tasteless and cold spaghetti bolognese," said Jalonen, indicating his player is receiving the same meal over and over.

"You can't maintain your fitness there in such a way that you're immediately in peak condition when you get out. Even that sucks," Jalonen continued.

"This is a question of a kind of repression of human rights. A top athlete who is healthy is not allowed to participate in the Olympics. You could think of this as them (China) sort of ruining their own reputation with this. If this becomes a notorious Olympic Games because athletes are in prison for no good reason, it's not a very good advertisement for China in my opinion."

"If I'm not here anymore, I've been taken somewhere by something other than an ambulance," Jalonen continued. "But we'll find some guys to replace me."

Chinese officials told reporters they are working on trying to fix these issues.

Source: Ilta-Sanomat

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