The Swedish cross-country team's doctor, Rickard Noberius, has had a busy few days in Val di Fiemme. And he doesn't have any pleasant news to share.
After gold favorite Frida Karlsson's withdrawal from the five-mile race late Saturday, the next setback came on Sunday morning.
Jonna (Sundling) started feeling cold symptoms yesterday. She started coughing and felt in her body that something was not right. Unfortunately, that is the case, so she cannot run the five-mile race today, says Noberius.
Ebba is healthy
There is still some positive news: Ebba Andersson and Emma Ribom can at least start.
Those at the starting line are completely healthy, says the doctor.
He finds it difficult to answer why things turned out the way they did.
We caught it (the cold) from somewhere. Whether it's from the media, from doping controls, from cleaning ladies or if someone in the group got it from another source, it's just speculation. I don't get involved in that.
“Must evaluate”
The cross-country team has made an effort to keep their distance from others, live on their own, and minimize the risk of infection. That system has worked in the past.
"We've had two championships I've been involved in where we've been very, very healthy with similar routines. That it's become like this is incredibly unfortunate," says Noberius.
It is clear that we have to evaluate whether we could have done something differently. What we could have done would be to lock the athletes in their rooms and give them food on a tray. Then it would be almost like living in a prison cell and that would have been unreasonable for their well-being. Then they would not have performed, says the national team doctor.
No full team
The illnesses hit extra hard considering that Sweden had already sent home runners who were not expected to be eligible for the final five-mile race.
Johanna Hagström, Linn Svahn, Moa Ilar and Maja Dahlqvist have left Italy and cannot complete the team.
A wrong decision, national team manager Anders Byström admits.
In hindsight, we should have had a few more here, Byström told SVT on Saturday.
Corrected: In a previous version there was an error regarding the number of medals Sundling won in the Olympics. The correct answer is that she won one gold and two silver.
