Robin Lehner rejects invitation to the Winter Olympic Games.

We now officially have an athlete from the National Hockey League who will not be participating in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, and I have to wonder if we might see more joining him soon.

In the early hours of Monday morning Las Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner took to social media to make a major announcement. Lehner revealed that, although he had been invite to participate in the upcoming Olympics by his home country, he would be declining an offer to join Sweden's men's hockey team for the upcoming tournament.

NBA star Enes Freedom has previously called on athletes in the NHL to boycott the upcoming games over human rights abuses in China, but this decision from Lehner is not politically motivated. Instead Lehner cited concerns over his personal well being and mental health, specifically in the event that he could end up quarantined in China for an extended period of time.

Here is Lehner in his own words:

Great performance tonight from our team. Have to address I will not go to the olympics. I’m very disappointed and it tough decision for me as it’s once in life time opportunity. Reality is that what have been said about how it’s going to be is not ideal for my mental health. Took long time to make decision with my psychiatrist and family. My well being have too come first and being locked down and not knowing what happens if you test positive is to much of a risk for me. Sweden will have a great team and Markström is a beast.Hope people understand

This will of course be a huge disappointment for Swedish hockey fans who were looking forward to seeing Lehner represent their country, but given the fact that Lehner has always been open about his struggles with mental health I suspect that he will receive very little, if any, criticism for today's difficult decision. There's no world in which this could have been an easy choice for Lehner to make as he may never get another chance to play for Sweden at the Olympics during his lifetime.