Winter Olympics: Australia curlers Tahli Gill & Dean Hewitt win twice after Covid U-turn
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Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt are Australia's first curling Olympians
Australia curlers Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt have described the "craziest, craziest 24 hours" after being told to leave the Winter Olympics in Beijing because of a positive Covid test - before being allowed to play.
The mixed doubles pair went on to win their first match on Sunday, beating Switzerland after seven successive defeats.
It then got even better for Gill and Hewitt, who beat Canada 10-8 in a dramatic match, having been pegged back from 7-0 up.
Gill said: "My bags are still packed. I only just had time to pull out my uniforms.
"I was ruffling through my bags and ripping clothes out left, right and centre. I played with only one glove on - and it was the wrong one."
She tested positive on arrival in China but was allowed to play after producing two negative tests.
Gill returned a positive test after Australia's defeat by Italy on Saturday and was told she would not be able to continue in the competition.
She and Hewitt were preparing to return to Australia when they heard a medical panel had analysed her results and determined the cell counts fell within an acceptable range.
The pair then had 15 minutes to reach the National Aquatics Centre to warm up for the match against 2018 silver medallists Switzerland, which they won 9-6.
"We put our hearts and souls into that game, so to be able to come back with the win was really awesome," 22-year-old Gill said.
Australia lost to Great Britain's Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds on Friday.
Team GB said it had confidence in the protocols in place with daily tests for all competitors.
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'My heart and my mind can't take this any more'
Polish short track speed skater Natalia Maliszewska says she "no longer believes in any tests" after she had to miss Saturday's 500m race.
Maliszewska tested positive for Covid in Beijing on 30 January but was released from isolation on Friday night.
However, she then tested positive again and had to isolate once more.
"I'm alive, even though something in me died yesterday," she wrote in a lengthy social media post., external
"For a week I have been living in fear and these changes in mood, I cry until I have no more tears, that make not only the people around me worry about me but myself too.
"Positive tests, negative, tests close to leaving the isolation, then positive tests with values through which I should actually be in the hospital on a respirator.
"Later good results again with the chance that I may be allowed out of isolation. Then again a complete disaster."
She added: "I no longer believe in any tests, any Olympics.
"To me this is a big joke. I hope whoever is managing this has a lot of fun. My heart and my mind can't take this any more."
Maliszewska has since tested negative again and is set to compete in the 3,000m relay, which starts on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the head coach of Finland's men's ice hockey team has accused China of not respecting one his player's human rights.
Marko Anttila has remained in isolation after testing positive 18 days ago, despite a team doctor saying he was no longer infectious.
Head coach Jukka Jalonen said Anttila was "not getting good food" and struggling mentally.
"We know that he's fully healthy and ready to go and that's why we think that China, for some reason, they won't respect his human rights and that's not a great situation," Jalonen said.
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