German Olympian Geisenberger says she will never return to China
Feb 21, 2022
Taipei [Taiwan], February 21 : German Olympic luger Natalie Geisenberger said she will never return to China after safely reaching back to her home country.
In her first interview since leaving Beijing, Suddeutsche Zeitung cited her as saying on Friday that she will never go back to Beijing.
"It's just not a holiday destination for me, and I wouldn't go to China for a World Cup either," said Geisenberger. She then added: "It has nothing to do with the pandemic. I wasn't there because I really wanted to go to China but because the IOC (International Olympic Committee) decided that the Olympic Games would take place in Beijing," reported Taiwan News.
Earlier, Geisenberger considered skipping Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 due to treatment of athletes, substandard food.
In December, Geisenberger spoke openly of possibly skipping the Beijing Games because of her dissatisfaction with the way athletes had been treated during training in Beijing earlier in the season.
Among her complaints were being kept under lockdown for being on the same flight as someone who tested positive for COVID, despite testing negative on a daily basis, and the substandard quality of the food dropped off outside her door, reported Taiwan News.
However, she decided to participate in the Games in Beijing, and on February 8, she took gold in the women's singles competition.
When asked at a news conference the next day if she was surprised the issue of China's human rights record has not been raised at the Winter Olympics, she indicated that she would reserve her comments for later, reported Taiwan News.
"You have to be careful when you say what and where you say it. Upon my return (to Germany) there may be a few more things to be said, but here on site I am not going to say something," she said.
Geisenberger took gold again in the luge team relay on February 10, marking her sixth Olympic gold medal.
