With less than a month left until the Winter Olympics, the omicron variant of the coronavirus spreads rapidly.

More and more fully vaccinated athletes and leaders are infected.

The Swedish national ski team has managed this wave without a fall so far.

But national team manager Anders Byström is worried.

- We have now seen that other national teams such as alpine and handball have been infected in the team.

It is the fear now before the Olympics, that we too would have a positive case, says Byström.

"It's the horror"

All athletes and leaders must submit two negative tests within 96 hours before departure to Beijing.

- Should something be positive there then you will not be able to go over.

It is a fear that there may even be false positive test results.

You never know.

That you have to sit with your heart in your throat and wait for an answer is not fun the last bit into the Olympics, says Byström.

The difference from the Summer Olympics in Tokyo six months ago is big.

Then the vaccine protected better against infection.

Jakob Swanberg, doctor at the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK), says:

- I have a very hard time imagining that everyone who planned to go to Beijing can get going as planned.

It is such a widespread spread of infection that we have to reckon with the fact that there will be individuals who will not have their Olympic dream come true.

Then I think globally.

"Annoying scenario"

At the same time, there is disagreement between the Chinese organizers and medical expertise from the rest of the world about which rules should apply to the testing itself and to the limit values ​​for positive test results before the Olympics.

This includes the CT value that indicates virus levels in the sample.

China has a lower border than Sweden and most other countries.

It could theoretically mean that an athlete who receives a negative answer to his PCR test in Sweden is stopped in Beijing.

- It would be a very troublesome scenario, because then there is the risk of being quarantined, missing their entire Olympics and then having to go home without anything going wrong, says Jakob Swanberg.

- We have worked very hard to influence this.

Not just us from Sweden, but a whole network of several internationally knowledgeable medical people and doctors.

But it is not easy to influence the Chinese organizers.

Follow-up of cases

The organizers in China and the IOC will create a medical panel of experts to look at each individual case where someone has tested positive on the spot in Beijing.

There may be situations where an active or leader who has tested positive is given the opportunity to quickly get back into the Olympic bubble.

Jakob Swanberg thinks that message is good, but he has questions:

- How much capacity does that panel have?

At the same time, it becomes quite time-critical because there is a short time between arrival in China and when to compete.

Anders Byström says that it will be a relief when the national ski team has passed the first tests and can check in to the Olympic village:

- The Olympic Village will probably be the most infectious place on earth, Byström says.