I don’t care what people thought, says unvaccinated Patrizia Kummer

Patrizia Kummer, an unvaccinated Swiss snowboarder who competed in the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday after three weeks of quarantine, said she had “no difficulty” and didn’t “care what people thought” of her.

Athletes who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 enter the “closed loop” bubble system immediately at the Beijing Games, but those who have not been vaccinated must stay in a hotel for a necessary 21-day quarantine period before competing.

Kummer made it through the first round of the women’s parallel giant slalom on Tuesday morning, but was eliminated in the round of 16.

Speaking after her opening round performance, she insisted that despite being in quarantine, she had been able to do “really good” training.

“During quarantine I did more fast training like jumping and stuff — you can do that everywhere, you don’t need much space,” said Kummer, who won gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“Everything is in your head — you can do good when you are prepared in your head and I was prepared.”

Kummer said getting the vaccine “wasn’t the best” for her and that she was “happy” to go through the quarantine period.

She says said moved into the Olympic Village after 17 or 18 days of quarantine and was then allowed to train on the slopes before returning to her room for the remaining three weeks.

Kummer said she did not have “an opinion about anybody else” regarding the vaccine and did not care what people thought of her status.

“If somebody else has an opinion, they can have it — it’s their free will to have it,” said the 34-year-old.

“Everybody needs to decide on their own. Nobody is in my body so who the hell thinks they can decide for me?”

Unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia last month over his vaccine status, preventing him from defending his Australian Open title.