“Those who leaked the information will continue to respond.” Swedish skiers hid the epidemic in the equipment
Yulia Sidorova September 8, 2023, 16:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
In August, the team was sent home for a reason.
In early August, the Swedish ski team went to the town of Thorsby for a planned training camp. But the training there did not go as planned: after a few days, all the athletes were sent home. As it turned out, the team was engulfed by a virus that killed six people in one night.
“We don’t want to take risks”
The Torsby camp was the first joint summer training camp for the Swedish men’s and women’s teams. But it was not possible to complete it. On the night of August 10, athletes contracted the virus en masse: an upper respiratory tract infection accompanied by a sore throat.
The team was immediately sent home to prevent further spread of the virus before the start of the new season.
“The disease spread in the group, several people fell ill during the night. It is difficult to name the exact reason. Everyone was communicating with each other, so there may be others infected, so continuing with the training camp was not desirable,” explained team doctor Rikard Noberius.
“We don’t want to risk getting even sicker this time of year. Now it is important to keep the majority healthy so that the riders can train at home,” concluded team manager Anders Byström.
The Swedish team had problems even without being sick:
“We can’t punish anyone for this.” Two conflicts broke out in the Swedish ski team
It’s all Hans’ fault.
According to the team doctor, the cause of the outbreak was Hans, a hurricane that devastated Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
“The team was forced to train in pouring rain. It is clear that stress, combined with humid weather, contributes to the spread of infections. In summer, training in the ski tunnel, which takes place during the week, is also stressful for the body. There you go from a sub-zero environment to +20°C outside. When the air is also so humid, all of this becomes an additional risk factor,” Noberius suggested.
The doctor doubts that the cause of the illness could be a new strain of coronavirus that began to spread in Sweden. Before leaving the training camp, some of the sick underwent a rapid test to detect the presence of the new virus, but all the results were negative.
“This will affect the preparations”
The interesting thing is that the Swedish team hid the names of those who contracted the virus. But almost immediately information was leaked to local journalists that Frida Karlsson and Kalle Halfvarsson were not among them.
The first three names were revealed by Moa Lundgren. In social networks she showed the passengers of the minivan, which the team allocated specifically for the sick to reduce the risk of spreading the infection. In addition to Lundgren herself, Lynn Swan and Markus Grate were traveling in the car. And already in September it became known that Ebba Andersson was among the sick.
Last season, Ebba rose to the level of a global star:
Swedish skiers recovered from their failure. They didn’t give the marathon gold to anyone
“I have never experienced anything like this. There were six of us who got sick and we all developed symptoms literally within an hour. It’s surprising because I had a private room and we tried to take every precaution. Fortunately, the cold turned out to be mild and a few days later I started training. But this still cannot but affect the preparation,” Ebba said of the illness and recovery.
She was also disappointed because her illness became known: “I think those who leaked the information will have to respond,” said the Swede.
The names of two sicker people are still unknown. It is not yet clear whether the disease will affect athletes’ training.
Fans will probably find the answer to both questions in the first phase of the World Cup, which begins at the end of November in Ruka, Finland.
