Switzerland fires hockey coach who admitted to faking vaccination status for 2022 Beijing Olympics

Patrick Fischer, the Swiss hockey coach who admitted he received a fraudulent vaccination card to coach the men's hockey team in the 2022 Olympics, has been fired.

Urs Kessler, president of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation, hinted that the "public discussion about values and trust" wound up playing a role in the firing despite the case being "legally closed."

"Trust and integrity are central to our sport and to our organization. From today's perspective, our initial assessment - that the matter was closed - fell short. This is about values and respect, which are fundamental to Swiss Ice Hockey, and were not upheld by Patrick Fischer in 2022," Kessler said in a statement. 

"The federation regrets that it did not give this aspect enough consideration in its initial assessment.

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"At the same time, the federation thanks Patrick Fischer for his undisputed major sporting achievements. Under his leadership, the Swiss national team has developed steadily over more than a decade, moved up from eighth to second place in the world rankings, and won three silver medals, thereby leaving a lasting mark on Swiss ice hockey."

Fischer admitted he used a certificate falsely claiming he'd been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get around China's strict travel restrictions.

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.

In a statement late Monday, Fischer said he made a "serious mistake in this matter" by traveling to Beijing with the Switzerland men's team using false paperwork.

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"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."

Ahead of the 2022 Olympics, China had some of the strictest COVID-19 rules in the world. It insisted any athletes heading to the Games had to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or sit out a three-week quarantine in a hotel as Swiss snowboarder Patrizia Kummer did.

Switzerland hosts the world championship next month. Fischer was already due to step down after that.

Fischer is one of Switzerland's most successful hockey coaches ever. He's been in the post since 2015 and took the team to three Olympics and won three silver medals at the world championships.

Fischer played for the Swiss national team in the 2002 and 2006 Olympics and also played for the country's 1994 World Juniors team. He spent most of his career playing for EV Zug of Switzerland's National League A, where his jersey number is retired.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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