Kim Meylemans, a skeleton racer, claimed she was “safe” and back in the Beijing Olympic Village on Thursday after being released from a Covid isolation facility after an emotional Instagram post.
In a video message, the 25-year-old Belgian stated, “It seems that the video and the efforts of my Olympic committee have truly paid off.”
“At 11:35 p.m., my doorbell rang, and I was led to the Olympic Village.
“I’m currently in a wing that is solely for isolation, yet I’m back in the community. I’m at ease.
“Thank you, everyone, I’ll be able to practise a bit better here,” said Meylemans, who is scheduled to compete in the skeleton heats next week but tested positive for Covid shortly after landing in Beijing.
She was soon relocated from the Olympic Village, located in the highlands north of Beijing, to an isolation facility, where she remained for a few days after repeated negative test results.
Rather than returning to the athletes’ village, as she had anticipated, Chinese authorities sent Meylemans to another isolation centre via ambulance.
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The Belgian voiced her concerns in an emotional video uploaded to Instagram on Wednesday, stating, “This is clearly extremely hard for me,” with tears streaming down her face.
Meylemans has returned to the community as a result of her appeal, but he remains alone.
Over the following seven days, she will be “closely observed,” according to the Belgian Olympic Committee.
She’s a woman with a “will be able to work out on the track, but only in solitude. She will be secluded in a different room in the hamlet and examined twice a day throughout this time.”
The women’s skeleton heats begin February 11 at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre, and Meylemans might yet participate in her second Winter Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee expressed relief that she had returned to the Olympic Village.
