Mr Geschke, you are in quarantine for the second day. How are you doing?
Simon Geschke: It's not like you feel comfortable here. Quarantine is one thing, but the hotel is quite old and everything is overly strict here. The windows are even locked, which I don't understand at all. You're not allowed to order food or anything else. Absolutely nothing works here. It's half psychiatric ward, half prison. Although psychiatric is more like it.
So what do you do all day?
Geschke: You are woken up at 7.00 a.m. by a loudspeaker in your room. Then you have to measure your temperature and oxygen saturation. I can't understand why it has to be so early when you have hardly anything to do all day. After all, I wasn't prepared for such a situation and have nothing to keep me busy. I wanted to order a ukulele so I could play a bit, but that's forbidden. You can't spend the whole day staring at your mobile phone or iPad.
Do you have any opportunity to train?
Geschke: The DOSB is currently in the process of organising a role for me. My season isn't over after the Olympics and it's important that I don't spend ten days here looking at the wall. But it's very difficult to get anything into the hotel. There are three security guards in front of the main entrance and the doors are locked.
Do you have contact with other people?
Geschke: A woman sits behind a pane of glass at reception. You can go down to the lobby three times a day to get your food and then meet the other athletes and carers. You can also take your rubbish down there and pick up washing powder, for example, because the laundry isn't washed. I wash my pants myself in the sink.
Do you now know more about your values?
Geschke: My CT score is 32 and I was told that if you have a score above 30, you are not contagious. That would also explain why my room-mate Emanuel Buchmann didn't get infected. I shared the toilet and washbasin with him for days, but he tested negative several times. It's a bit pointless for me to be locked up here in the hotel, but they're playing it safe three times over. I haven't been home for five weeks because I was at the Tour de France beforehand. It's getting mentally difficult too. It's a nightmare.
Will you be tested further?
Geschke: You're not told much about what happens next or when there will be a test. I haven't had another one yet. A Dutch lady told me that you only get tested again on the sixth day. If this test and the one the day after are negative, you are allowed to leave the hotel on the eighth day. That's still a long way off.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:210725-99-516476/2
