It’s not uncommon for an Olympic athlete to be in pain during the games. It is uncommon, though, for the provided food to be the root cause of that pain.
Well, that’s exactly the situation in which Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova finds herself.
Quarantined at the 2022 Games at a hotel in Beijing, Vasnetsova says the food she’s been given during her quarantine has been so bad that she’s in physical pain and cries daily.
The photo accompanying her Instagram story seems to back up her claims—a plate of plain pasta, some meat, a few potatoes, and a sauce. It doesn’t exactly make your mouth water.
The athlete sounded off on the “food,” calling it inedible and claiming it was what she was eating for “breakfast, lunch, and dinner for five days already.”
“My stomach hurts,” she adds. “I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired.”
She continues that the nutrition, or lack thereof, has caused her to lose weight and “my bones are already sticking out.”
Her complaints worked: Russian biathlon team spokesperson Sergei Averyanov said Vasnetsova was getting better meals—including salmon and cucumbers.
Vasnetsova is not the first athlete to complain about quarantine conditions at the Olympics, and she most likely won’t be the last.
The games officially kicked off on February 4 and are set to run through February 20.
