Although several athletes miss out on competing at just concluded European Indoor Championship in Torun after testing positive for coronavirus. Some of them are Polish sprinter, Poland 4×400 men relay team and Belgium Eline Berings.
But the case of a Belgian former European 60m hurdles Champion, Eline Berings was devastating after her own case turn out to be false positive.
A Gent born, Berings claimed she was forced to withdraw from the semi-finals of the 60 metres hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships for “no reason” following a false positive COVID-19 test result.
But the 34-year-old has now hit out at organisers for not re-testing her “immediately” after later tests showed she did not have COVID-19.
Berings, who qualified for the semi-finals after finishing fifth in her first-round heat, took to social media on the day of the race to vent her frustration before revealing that it was a false positive result.
“No semi-final for me….apparently I tested positive [for] COVID yesterday,” wrote Berings on Twitter on Sunday.
“I don’t think I need to explain how devastated I am.”
In a post later that day, Berings wrote: “Today: Negative speed test and negative PCR.
“So it was false positive?!?!
“If only they retested sooner.”
Berings then posted a further message yesterday questioning organisers’ approach to coronavirus testing.
“I needed another PCR test in the evening.
“Negative again,” Berings wrote.
“It could have easily [been] solved by retesting immediately after my positive result came out.”
Quoted in a report by Sporza, Berings said it was the “worst thing I have experienced” when reflecting on her European Indoor Championships ordeal.
“It was the most intense and negative in terms of emotions, a rollercoaster,” said Berings.
“So much happened in one day.
“I was especially not what you expect when you get up.
“It has been a very bizarre day.
“My gut tells me that a lot of mistakes have happened.
“I found the test administration was not according to the protocol and there was too much time between the first and second tests.
“From the morning I knew I was going to get nothing but bad news.
“At worst I was sick, whatever I feared an at best I was false positive.
“I was looking at my empty track in the semi-finals when I knew I should have been there.
“I was quite intense”, she concluded.
