In a shocking turn of events, China, a nation known for its warm nature and great treatment of all people, has been accused of mistreating Olympic athletes that are sick with COVID-19.

Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova has raised alarm bells with an Instagram post regarding the food she’s received while in quarantine. The Liberty Line briefly touched on this issue yesterday, but now we actually have photos, which brings the issue to light.

So what’s China up to?

via the AP

Vasnetsova posted a picture Thursday of what she said was “breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already” — a tray with food including plain pasta, an orange sauce, charred meat on a bone, a few potatoes and no greens.

She said she mostly survived on a few pieces of pasta because it was “impossible” to eat the rest, “but today I ate all the fat they serve instead of meat because I was very hungry.” She added she lost a lot of weight and “my bones are already sticking out.”

I’m going to be honest, my first thought upon seeing the meals provided to sick athletes wasn’t “How gross.” It was “When did my wife have time to go to China and cook those meals?”

(That’s a little humor to lighten up the human rights abuses folks.)

Why would China do such a thing?

This looks like the sort of food you give a dog you don’t particularly care for. Olympic athletes are conditioned to eat higher quality meals. They also need to eat better than this if they want to compete after they exit quarantine. It’s almost as if China is trying to sandbag competitors. It’s not like the others in quarantine are receiving better treatment than the athletes… or are they?

“ Vasnetsova passed her time in quarantine with a little detective work. When fetching the food left outside her door, she took a glance at the boxes left outside other rooms in her corridor, whose doors were labeled with signs to distinguish Olympians from other people working at the Games who tested positive, such as team staff.

She concluded the athletes were getting worse food, and underlined it with a picture of food served to her team doctor, who had also tested positive and was living two floors below. He had fresh fruit, a salad and prawns with broccoli.

“I honestly don’t understand, why is there this attitude to us, the athletes?!” she wrote.”

Via The AP

Poor Valeria is learning a hard lesson about Chinese competitiveness. You thought you were going to waltz into Beijing, try to win a gold medal against them, and then get five star treatment once you caught Covid?

At least even in China, the squeaky wheel still gets greased. Apparently after her post caught traction on instragram, Valeria received higher quality food. It’s unclear whether that food also came with a trip to a re-education facility. We’ll know if in a few days she starts tweeting about how hot Presiden Xi is.

Mandatory Credit: instagram