Berlin (dpa) – Olympic athletes can feel “very safe” at the Beijing Winter Games held in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Germany’s chef de mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig believes.
Nonetheless the situation at the Games, which begin February 4, is a big challenge.
“When you’re here and in this closed loop, in this bubble – and we’re now in it a week – then you’re really very safe,” Schimmelpfennig told broadcaster rbb Friday. “[It’s] similar to the experience in Tokyo (for the summer Games last year).”
At the previous Games in the Japanese capital, “in the bubble itself as good as nothing happened in the German team,” Schimmelpfennig said.
“The difficulty is now the infection rates in Germany are very high. It is much harder to travel without the virus than to stay without the virus here in Beijing.”
The majority of German athletes depart for China this weekend.
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