The sprawling Olympic Inexperienced is lined with brightly lit timber, an infinite glowing statue of the Winter Video games mascot, an ice suit-wearing panda named Bing Dwen Dwen, and synchronized mild reveals pace alongside the perimeters of the 846-foot Olympic Tower.
However the festive scene every night time close to a number of high-profile venues belies the pandemic-fueled uncertainty that permeates these Video games.
Everyone seems to be examined day by day for the coronavirus contained in the Olympic bubble that’s separated from the remainder of society by excessive fences, safety guards and surveillance cameras. Some staffers put on white hazmat fits. Temperatures are robotically scanned when coming into buildings. Information of the most recent athlete to check constructive and be whisked to an isolation facility trickles out by means of social media posts or temporary written statements.
As organizers apply China’s zero-COVID coverage to the Video games that open Friday, nobody is aware of how the 17-day celebration of winter sports activities will play out.
The U.S. contingent is projected to complete fourth within the medal standings, however the still-simmering virus and strict prevention measures may upend an occasion or crew straight away.
When Gracenote, a sports activities evaluation and knowledge firm, launched its last medal prediction this week, it cautioned “there’s potential for the Beijing Winter Video games to be extra unpredictable than regular” due to the virus.
“The issue is that we have no idea who might or might not be out of competitors resulting from a constructive COVID take a look at,” Simon Gleave, Gracenote’s head of sports activities evaluation, stated in an e mail.
Although the Tokyo Olympics confronted related questions through the summer season, the influence of the virus on competitors proved to be minimal. However the extremely contagious Omnicron variant emerged within the six months since these Video games and Beijing organizers have adopted a stringent strategy in an try and hold the virus at bay.
As of Tuesday, there have been 232 constructive coronavirus circumstances at these Video games.
Elana Meyers Taylor, the U.S. bobsled star who’s a three-time Olympic medalist, introduced Tuesday that she examined constructive after arriving, however is asymptomatic. She could possibly be cleared in time to compete within the monobob beginning Feb. 13 or two-person bobsled beginning Feb. 18, however the state of affairs underscored how rapidly these Video games can change.
“That is simply the most recent impediment that my household and I’ve confronted on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll have the ability to get better rapidly and nonetheless have the chance to compete,” she wrote on Instagram.
Seven members of the 428-person Group USA delegation are in isolation after testing constructive, together with two athletes. America Olympic and Paralympic Committee has not any of the individuals who have examined constructive.
Constructive assessments have knocked some athletes out of the Video games even earlier than touring to Beijing. They embody Austria’s Marita Kramer, the world’s prime feminine ski jumper, and Russian determine skater Mikhal Kolyada, a three-time {national} champion.
However the Video games, the place solely a restricted variety of home spectators can be allowed to attend competitions, push ahead. Gracenote predicts the U.S. will win 22 medals, together with seven gold. That might be down from the 23 gained 4 years in the past on the Pyeongchang Video games within the nation’s worst displaying in twenty years. The entire prompted Alan Ashley, then Group USA’s chief of sport efficiency, to pledge after the Video games that, “We’re going to take a tough have a look at what occurred.”
The six U.S. athletes who gained particular person gold medals in Pyeongchang all return – snowboarders Jamie Anderson, Purple Gerrard, Chloe Kim and Shaun White; Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin; and freestyle skier David Smart.
U.S. silver medal winner Mikaela Shiffrin poses through the flower ceremony for the ladies’s mixed on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
(Michael Probst / Related Press)
Shiffrin, the top-ranked ladies’s skier on the World Cup circuit, may compete in 5 particular person occasions and has the very best likelihood of any American to win a number of particular person gold medals. The trail right here hasn’t been straightforward. She examined constructive for the coronavirus in late December, however returned to competitors eight days after asserting the consequence.
“You’ve seen some athletes actually having to wrestle to get again,” Shiffrin advised reporters after returning final month. “However I really feel regular. That’s actually excellent. It was nice to have the ability to have the very best case state of affairs with my constructive case. … I’m actually fortunate, truly.”
Nathan Chen, the determine skater who has gained six consecutive U.S. titles, will problem Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu for gold. Longtime Canadian bobsledder Kaillie Humphries, who was sworn in as a U.S. citizen in December, is one other medal contender. The U.S. ladies’s hockey crew — 15 of the 23 gamers have Olympic expertise — can win gold. Jessie Diggins (cross nation snowboarding) and Brittany Bowe (pace skating) are amongst different U.S. contenders for gold.
The pandemic has left athletes relieved to reach within the bubble with out incident and have the ability to flip their consideration to chasing medals.
“[We] have been actually combating all the things it took to get right here,” Anderson stated. “Now that we’re right here and settled into our house and determining the meals and schedule, I believe we’re actually stoked.”
Gracenote initiatives Norway (21 golds, 44 whole medals) will prime the medal standings for the second straight Olympics, adopted by Germany (11 gold, 30 whole medals) and the Russian Olympic Committee (10 gold, 30 whole medals).
Whereas Gracenote penciled China in for 13 medals — a major enchancment over its 9 medals in Pyeongchang — the corporate famous that the pandemic has prevented most of the host nation’s winter athletes from competing in main worldwide occasions.
Like all the things else in Beijing, the result’s unsure.
— by way of www.latimes.com
The Chenab Times News Desk