Swiss Hockey Coach Admits to Using Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Card to Get Into 2022 Winter Olympics

Patrick Fischer
Credit: Vedran Galijas/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• A Swiss hockey coach is speaking out about falsifying his COVID-19 vaccine record at the 2022 Beijing Olympics
• Patrick Fischer issued a statement on Monday, shortly after a Swiss broadcasting agency presented him with proof of his wrongdoing
• FIscher is one of the most winningest hockey coaches in his country's history

A Swiss ice hockey coach is coming clean about falsifying his COVID-19 vaccine records at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

In a statement on Monday, April 13, the Swiss men's head coach Patrick Fischer revisited the “serious mistake” he made.

“I’m very sorry if I’ve disappointed people with this situation,” Fischer, 50, said, according to the Associated Press. “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.”

Fischer’s admission comes after Swiss broadcaster SRF confronted the coach with documents that showed he was fined nearly 39,000 Swiss francs ($50,000) by local authorities for document forgery showing he bought a certificate online that proved he was vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the AP.

Patrick Fischer
Credit: EyesWideOpen/Getty

The coach, one of the most winningest in Swiss hockey history, took the national team to the Olympics three times, and won three silver medals at the world championships. He most recently coached the men's team at the 2026 Olympics in Milan.

Now, as Switzerland is set to host the world championship next month, the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation said it considers the matter closed, per the AP. 

Fischer was set to step down before the competition takes place.

The 2022 Beijing Olympics had strict COVID-19 requirements. All athletes and Games participants who were fully vaccinated entered a “closed-loop management system” upon their arrival in China, the IOC said at the time.

Only athletes who provided a “justified medical exemption” for not being vaccinated had their cases considered.

Tickets for the Games were sold exclusively to spectators residing in China’s mainland who met the requirements of the COVID-19 countermeasures.

Read the original article on People