Skateboarder protest over ‘lack of fresh air’ in Tokyo isolation hotel
Quarantined Tokyo Olympics skateboarder Candy Jacobs has revealed she went on “strike” inside her isolation hotel in protest at the lack of fresh air.
The Dutch athlete, 31, was removed from the Olympic Village after testing positive for Covid-19 a week ago.
In a video message posted on Instagram on Tuesday night, Jacobs complained that “not having any outside air is so inhuman.”
Taking about the mental toll of her situation, she said: “This ride has been the wildest I’ve ever been on, and I hopefully never have to go through something like this again. Cause this is hard, man. Not having any outside air is so inhuman. And it is, mentally, super draining.”
She said she refused to move for seven hours in a room where the window does not open. Officials agreed she could stand at an open window under supervision for 15 minutes a day, she added.
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“Having that first breath of outside air was the saddest and best moment in my life,” she said.
Jacobs missed the street event in the sport’s Olympic debut.
She said watching the event on television was “a super-cool distraction” from quarantine.