Olympic skiers are complaining of dangerously cold conditions in Beijing with subzero windchills pushing athletes to the brink of collapse

• It is extremely cold at some of the Winter Olympic venues in Beijing.
• One cross-country skier was so cold Saturday that she seemed close to collapsing at the finish line.

Sweden's cross-country ski team is said to be considering asking the International Ski Federation, or FIS, to start races at the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier in the day to try to protect athletes from the freezing temperatures.

It comes after the Swedish athlete Frida Karlsson was seen shaking and apparently close to collapse at the end of the women's 7.5km+7.5km skiathlon Saturday.

Under FIS rules, competitions are stopped from taking place when temperatures are below minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

When Karlsson competed Saturday, temperatures in the mountains of Zhangjiakou were about 8 degrees Fahrenheit; however, the Swedish team boss Anders Bystroem told reporters the windchill was closer to minus 31.

"We have the cold limits, but I do not know if they also measure the wind effect," Bystroem said Sunday, per Reuters.

"If FIS says it's minus 17 degrees and it's windy, and it's minus 35 degrees with the windchill, what do you do then?" He was referring to temperatures in Celsius — minus 17 C is about 1 F, and minus 35 C is about minus 31 F.

Bystroem added that holding races later in the day to allow more European television audiences to watch live was detrimental to the performance of the athletes.

"Yesterday the competition started at 4 p.m., and Frida Karlsson was completely destroyed by the cold. It's not good that the sprint starts even later," he said.

He said the team had talked about asking to race earlier in the day if possible but added, "I don't think it will be possible to change the time because of the Olympic schedule."

The cold isn't the only thing participants in Beijing have been complaining about.

Athletes at the games who have tested positive for COVID-19 have also been less than satisfied with the conditions at a quarantine hotel.

The Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram complaining about the quality of the food, while German Nordic combined skier Eric Frenzel called conditions at the isolation hotel "unreasonable."

"My stomach hurts, I'm very pale, and I have huge black circles around my eyes," Vasnetsova said alongside a photo of a meal that she said she'd been served for five straight days — plain pasta, an orange sauce, meat, and potatoes, with no greens.

"I want all this to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired."

Christophe Dubi, the Games' executive director, said the conditions were "not good enough" and the IOC had been working to improve them.

"It is very unfortunate that it affected an athlete — it has been addressed, and let's be very thorough in the future to make sure that internet conditions, food and size of the rooms, equipment for training, and everything is perfect for the athletes who do suffer from the conditions," he said.