Six players on Danish Olympic hockey team test positive for COVID-19

Six players on Denmark’s Olympic hockey team have tested positive for COVID-19 days before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, The Associated Press reported.

In a statement on Wednesday, the team shared that forwards Matthias Asperup, Nick Olesen and Mikkel Boedker, defenseman Markus Lauridsen, and two taxi squad players have tested positive for the virus. 

Asperup and Olssen both entered quarantine periods after their positive tests, and the four other players missed team practice after testing positive, although the team believes some of the results could have been false positives, according to the AP.

“Fortunately, it looks like four of them were false positive, we are hoping,” Danish national team center Frans Nielsen said. “I wouldn’t called it ‘scared,’ but you’re always worried about, ‘Is there going to be more?’”

Coach Heinz Ehlers said all team members tested negative twice within two days before leaving for Beijing, adding that Asperup and Olesen need to produce two negative COVID-19 tests 24 hours apart to be cleared to play. 

“Of course it’s frustrating about the practice because we were supposed to do a little bit of power play today and three or four of those players, they were out,” Ehlers said. “It’s just [we have] to accept the way it is right now.”

Ehlers also shared his optimism about getting back four players in isolation either Wednesday or Thursday, the AP reported. 

Denmark’s National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation added it does not believe any other members of its 62-members delegation need to be isolated. 

The announcement comes as Olympic organizers reported 32 new virus cases on Wednesday, with 15 people testing positive upon arrival at the airport and 17 others within the Olympic bubble. 

Participating Olympic athletes and trainers accounted for nine of the positive tests, and the 23 others were from workers and media members at the event, the AP noted. 

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will begin on Feb. 4.