An Olympic speed skater says she was put in an ambulance at 3 a.m. after being released from quarantine, then cried 'like crazy'

• Polish speed skater Natalia Maliszewska has endured a torrid time at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
• She has been ruled in and out of the games several times due to changing COVID test results.

A Polish Olympic short-track speed skater said she was woken at 3 a.m. by quarantine officials and put in the back of an ambulance amid confusion about whether she was allowed to compete at the Beijing Olympics.

Natalia Maliszewska described the experience as "traumatic," said she did not "feel safe," and that she "cried like crazy."

Maliszewska tested positive for COVID-19 on January 30 and was ruled out from participating at the Beijing Winter Olympics. However, she was then unexpectedly released from isolation in the early hours of Saturday morning, just hours before her 500 meter qualifying race.

"I was sitting in the ambulance," she said of her release from quarantine, according to The Guardian. "It was 3 a.m. I was crying like crazy because I didn't know what was going on. I did not feel safe at all."

After being taken from her isolation hotel, Maliszewska said that she was so scared she'd be moved again that she slept fully dressed.

"That night was a horror. I slept in my clothes because I was afraid that someone would take me back to solitary in a moment," she said, per Eurosport.

Maliszewska then took another test Saturday morning prior to the qualifying races, which turned out to be positive.

Despite the result, she said she was told she could compete, but that decision was then reversed just before she was set to warm up, she said.

"They had told me at midnight that I could go out and five minutes later that I could not," she said. "They told me there's so many politics stuff that you will not understand. It's China.

"Then I got the message like half-hour before I was going to warm up that they made a mistake. Like the organization made the mistake and I cannot compete because I'm dangerous to people."

In yet another twist, the 26-year-old then returned a negative test result on Sunday and was told she would be able to compete in future events.

But the damage appeared to have already been done. With Maliszewska having now missed the qualifying rounds her favored event, for which she is ranked third in the world, she hinted on social media on Sunday that she intends to leave Beijing.

"I have been living in fear for over a week, and these mood swings, the crying that takes my breath away, make it not only the people around me worry about me but myself alone," she wrote.

"I don't understand it either. I don't believe in anything anymore. In no tests. No games. It's a big joke for me. My heart can't take it anymore. Thank you. See you soon."

Shortly after, however, she then posted a selfie of her in her uniform, captioned: "I'm back."

—Natalia Maliszewska (@NMaliszewska) February 6, 2022

Maliszewska isn't the only athlete to have complained about the isolation conditions in Beijing.

The Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram complaining about the quality of the food, while German Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel called conditions at the isolation hotel "unreasonable."

"My stomach hurts, I'm very pale, and I have huge black circles around my eyes," Vasnetsova said alongside a photo of a meal that she said she'd been served for five straight days — plain pasta, an orange sauce, meat, and potatoes, with no greens.

"I want all this to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired."

Prior to the games, Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans was subject to a confusing, upsetting ordeal in which she was moved several times during a COVID isolation period.

Meylemans, 25, tested positive for COVID-19 upon landing in China and was taken to a quarantine facility.

She said she'd been told she could leave the facility and move to the Olympic Village once she had returned three negative PCR tests. When she tested negative three times, however, she was then taken to another quarantine hotel.

She was eventually moved to the Olympic Village after posting a tearful video on Instagram.