Exit once a day to pick up food. Closed windows and doors. The “quarantine jail” for Corona-infected athletes: inside is feared at the Olympics. The Dutch taekwondo fighter Reshmie Oogink doesn’t let go.
As if it wasn’t bitter enough to be excluded from the Olympic competitions at the last minute due to a corona infection after years of training. After that, things get worse in Tokyo. Athletes who have tested positive are quartered in a hotel that has long been feared as a “quarantine jail”.
And rightly so. The athletes, who mostly show no symptoms, are only allowed to leave their room once a day to pick up food, which is “the same every day”, as the Dutch Taekwondo fighter Reshmie Oogink reports. That is the only change. Even more: “We need fresh air, because nothing can be opened here. The windows are closed, the doors don’t open, never. That’s not okay,” complained Oogink’s compatriot, the skateboarder Candy Jacobs, in an Instagram video after days of isolation. Together with four compatriots who also tested positive, Oogink and Jacobs even went on a sit-in in the hotel lobby to force access to fresh air. After eight hours, the hotel management finally allowed 15 minutes in an open window – under supervision!
“Covid Games” in the quarantine jail
But of course, this quarter of an hour doesn’t change the tough, endless days of quarantine in the hotel room. What should you do to avoid going up the walls from boredom? Reshmie Oogink doesn’t let herself get down and knows how to keep busy. On her Instagram account, she lets her fans participate in her own “Covid Games”. Her disciplines: Corona test tube target throw, “Klomp basketball” with souvenir wooden shoes – of course from a “Covid distance” of 1.50 meters to the basket, a hanging laundry bag – or a wheelchair relay race through the dining room.
Olympic participants: inside just need the competition, always, even in quarantine. Reshmies fans celebrate her for her demeanor. “Funny crazy girl,” comments one. “Mooie positieve invulling van de leegte” (“Nice positive way to fill the void”), another. There is also real admiration: “How you come up with something like that in a situation in which most people need a psychologist, that really defines you.” Nevertheless, Reshmie Oogink can hardly wait for the end of the time in quarantine.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
