This week, Slovenia’s star sprint racer Eva Urevc tested positive for Covid-19. 

“I just want to let you know that yesterday I tested positive for covid-19,” Urevc writes. 

“So, I am following the protocol and I isolated myself. I don’t feel so good, but I hope for the best, to be able to go to the Olympics in good shape,” she says. 

Urevc is considered one of Slovenia’s strongest cross-country skiers, and a medal candidate at sprint and the team sprint at the upcoming Olympics.  

Extremely bad timing
But even if Urevc should test negative in time for the 2022 Olympics in February, the 26-year-old Slovenian is now facing a mountain of form and formalities in order to travel to China and compete at the Olympics. 

The Chines authorities and the Beijing 2022 organizing committee have put in place extremely rigid rules regarding testing, quarantines and regulations for all Olympic participants. But for those who have tested positive within the 30 days prior to the Olympics, there are added rules and restrictions bot prior to the Olympics and throughout their stay in China. 

Accordingly, teams and athletes traveling to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing are taking heavy precautions to avoid infection with the highly contagious Omicron variant of the corona virus. The consequences of catching the bug prior to the Games, even if asymptomatic, could mean missing the Olympics entirely.