February 06, (THEWILL) – Natalia Maliszewska, a Polish short track speed skater, has resorted to social media to voice her dismay at not being able to compete in the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
Maliszewska had tested positive for COVID on January 30 and was kept of the competition, but she was suddenly released from COVID isolation hours before Saturday’s 500m qualifying event on Friday night after a negative test result.
However, she tested positive for the second time just hours before the race on Saturday, and so was barred from competing in the Olympics.
A saddened Maliszewska was devastated to the point where she admitted that her “heart can’t take it anymore,” after learning she will not be able to compete in her second Olympics, where she was a medal favourite.
“It is so damn hard for me to speak and say anything,” she wrote via her Twitter account. “Let me know that I am alive even though I think there is something in me that died yesterday.
“I have been living in fear for over a week… and these mood swings, the crying that takes my breath away, make it not only the people around me worry about me but myself alone.
“I know a lot of people do not understand this situation. Positive and negative tests, tests confirming isolation, suddenly positive tests with results that qualify me to be in the hospital on a ventilator. Later, good results again and a chance to be released. Then a total flop. No possibility and hope is dead.
“I’m packing for the ice rink, I’m taking off! I unpack my clothes, hang up my clothes and suddenly the news that they were wrong! That they shouldn’t let me out of solitary confinement villages. That night was a horror. I slept in my clothes because I was afraid that someone would take me back to solitary in a moment. I only looked through the curtains a little. With one eye, because I’m afraid someone will see me.
“I don’t understand it either. I don’t believe in anything anymore. In no tests. No games. It’s a big joke for me. My heart can’t take it anymore. Thank you. See you soon.”
Konrad Niedzwiedzki, Poland’s chef de mission, who had to break the news to Maliszewska, expressed his frustration with the situation, saying he could not comprehend how someone could test positive after a negative test.
“She was surprised and was already wondering what would happen next, because the players are so traumatized by the hotel they were in. They don’t really want to go back there in the first place,” Niedzwiedzki said.
“I am not a medical professional and I do not understand that you can suddenly get positive from negative tests. Natalia feels great, is in good shape and there is something invisible here that she does not even feel, and apparently passes on to other people and infects them.
“These results are a verdict, which determines whether the competitor will start, whether she will fight for her first medal and whether she will reach for her dreams.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
