Swiss Ice Hockey is to host the World Championships in May but faces questions over coach's false Olympic paperwork.

Swiss Ice Hockey coach Patrick Fischer has admitted he used a certificate falsely claiming he had been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get around China’s travel restrictions for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he led his nation.

In a statement, Fischer, who remains in charge of the Swiss team, said he made a “serious mistake in this matter” by travelling to Beijing with the men’s team using false paperwork.

"I’m very sorry if I’ve disappointed people with this situation,” Fischer said. “I was in an extraordinary personal crisis because I didn’t want to be vaccinated. At the same time I certainly didn’t want to let my team down at the Olympic Games.”

Swiss public broadcaster SRF said it confronted Fischer with documents showing he was fined nearly 39,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) by local authorities in 2023 for document forgery after buying the certificate on social media. SRF said he went public with his admission shortly after.

  • wjrii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    30·
    3 days ago

    “I was in an extraordinary personal crisis because I didn’t want to be vaccinated. At the same time I certainly didn’t want to let my team down at the Olympic Games.”

    Barely one layer deep, there’s an almost impressive level of IDGAF energy here: “You see, the thing is, somebody wanted me to do a thing I didn’t want to do, but I had this other thing that I did want to do, so being the type of person that I am, I lied about the first thing and it all worked out for me.”

    • gex@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      3 days ago

      It’s that like key and peele sketch where Will Smith’s son gets explained the concept of having to choose one of two things and he dismisses it as science fiction.