Athletes’ spokesman Herber: Beijing’s situation worries athletes

Athletes have to decide about the climax of their career

Herber was once a professional basketball player, he could understand what was going on in athletes. And about the situation in Beijing said in an interview with BR: “It came as a surprise to me. I would not have thought that the organization, the logistics there and communication with the athletes were so bad. I thought they were better especially It has been prepared keeping in mind the upcoming games.

Tobias Arlt, a Toboggan runner, was taken away from the Olympia-Bahn after testing positive for the coronavirus and abandoned for several days, the test eventually turning out to be false-positive. It’s not easy for athletes in particular—like Geisenberger, he has to decide on one of the highlights of his career.

Many countries with diplomatic boycotts

So Herber, a spokesman for athletes, believes many will participate – but not without concern: “I think they’re trying to ignore it because their goal is definitely to compete in Beijing and get there.” Celebrating a career highlight. Still: Sure, you noticed, it’s disturbing and worrying.”

In addition, now there is also the human rights situation in China. So some countries have already announced at least one diplomatic boycott: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, for example, are not sending government representatives to Beijing, and the new federal government in Germany has yet to do so. decision has not been taken.

For Herber, it is about “making the IOC responsible for placing greater emphasis on human rights responsibility in future awards”.