Finland's Hockey Coach Accuses China of Violating Player's Human Rights with 18-Day COVID Isolation

Finland’s Olympic ice hockey coach is accusing China of violating the human rights of athletes because one of his players has been confined to his hotel in isolation for 18 days over a positive coronavirus test.

Finland team forward Marko Anttila has been confined to his hotel room for more than two weeks after testing positive for the virus upon landing in Beijing. And the situation is intolerable, as far as coach Jukka Jalonen is concerned, Fox Business Network reports.

Jalonen says that being cooped up without proper nutrition and exercise is physically dangerous to the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Fin.

KOSICE, SLOVAKIA – MAY 17: Marko Antilla (C) of Finland celebrates with his teammates the 2nd goal during the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Slovakia group A game between Finland and Great Britain at Steel Arena on May 17, 2019, in Kosice, Slovakia. (Photo by Martin Rose/Getty Images)

“He’s a professional athlete, and he would like to participate in team practices and games in the near future,” Jalonen said. “He’s not getting great food, and he’s a very big guy.”

“Because he doesn’t know what’s going on and what will happen with him, it’s like uncertainties, so it’s a bad thing also mentally,” the coach added.

The team’s doctor, Maarit Valtonen, noted that Anttila tested negative several times before boarding the plane to China but tested positive after entering the oppressive communist nation.

“From a medical perspective, we know that a person like this is no longer infectious, no danger to the other team,” Dr. Valtonen added. “These isolation decisions are not based on medicine or science. It’s more cultural and political decisions.

“We know that he’s fully healthy and ready to go, and that’s why we think that China, for some reason, they won’t respect his human rights, and that’s not a great situation,” the coach added.

Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, is seen on a flag next to a member of Chinese security personnel ahead of the men’s downhill second training session during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing on February 4, 2022. (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

While a few other athletes have decried the “small rooms” they are subject to, and others have claimed the lodgings are “dirty,” there has been almost none of the speaking out about political issues seen in so many of the other recent Olympics games.

Even as Finland coach Jalonen is fashioning his protest over virus mitigation as a “human rights” issue, no Olympian has directly addressed the fundamental human rights issues of China’s oppression, enslavement, and genocide against its Uyghur minority population. Nor has anyone spoken out about the brutal oppression of Chinese Christians, nor the harsh quashing of the pro-democracy movements in Tibet and Hong Kong.

It appears that all those “brave” Olympic athletes have suddenly decided to stick to sports while competing at the Chinese genocide games.

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