Munich/Beijing (dpa) – World-class luger Natalie Geisenberger decided to start at the Winter Olympics despite poor Beijing experiences last year – also with a view to her teammates.
“A queasy feeling remains. I’m not screaming ‘Hip-Hip-Hooray’ before the trip. But I tried to use my voice and make improvements for us athletes,” said the 33-year-old in an interview with “Münchner Mercury” and the “tz”.
Four-time Olympic champion Geisenberger and her colleague Tobias Wendl are among the candidates from which the flag-bearer duo will be selected for the opening ceremony next Friday; a day later, the federal police officer from SV Miesbach celebrates her 34th birthday.
Bad experiences in test competitions
She later spoke to the IOC and its President Thomas Bach about her bad experience at the Olympic test competitions last November. “I just wanted to have a better feeling. On the return trip from Beijing last year, we sat at the airport for seven hours and absolutely all the shops were closed. So we had nothing, not even water. Something like that shouldn’t happen again,” said Geisenberger .
“I was promised that our concerns would be taken seriously and that things would be changed,” said the nine-time world champion and also gave examples: “That the bus will stop twice on the way to the competition site and that we can go to the toilet. That it’s a real test center are.”
The background to this requirement is bad experience with the on-site corona tests last November. She always asked herself: “What happens to my tests now? We didn’t have to identify ourselves. They just knocked and then tested without a word,” said Geisenberger. “I just hope that the tests for the games will now run as they should. I’m not afraid that tests will be deliberately manipulated.”