Dai Dai N’tab and Merel Conijn are allowed to go to the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The North Holland skaters have been designated by the KNSB as reserves. In addition to N’tab and Conijn, Melissa Wijfje and Beau Snellink will travel to China to deal with any injury or corona cases.
According to the rules of the IOC (Olympic Committee), the reserves that have traveled along may be used as substitutes for women until February 4 and for men until February 5. If a skater drops out after this, a replacement must be appointed within the current eighteen.
“We want to be optimally prepared in these complicated times to be able to respond adequately to any setback within the selection,” says technical director Remy de Wit, who not only refers to possible injuries but also a possible corona infection. “If for whatever reason one of our eighteen skaters has to drop out, we must have the best replacement imaginable ready.”
Corona protocol
To be allowed to travel to Beijing, the replacements must participate in the NOC*NSF corona protocol from 21 January. Five days later, the skaters, including reserves, fly to China.
Merel Conijn sourly missed an Olympic ticket. The Edam eventually came 0.01 second short of participating in the Winter Games. N’tab was passed by the KNSB. He was second in the 500 meters at the OKT, but the skating association designated Sven Kramer and Marcel Bosker for the team pursuit. As a result, the Amsterdammer was still behind the net.