2022 Winter Olympics status updates, news articles, etc.

[Hedwig]

Update on an athlete who decided not to get vaccinated (mentioned in excerpt of post 111 above): https://sports.yahoo.com/first-olympics-snowboarding-not-jasey-212417375.html


Team USA, officially announced on January 24, numbers 223 (108 women, 114 men and one nonbinary athlete [LeDuc]):
https://www.teamusa.org/News/2022/J...tee-Announces-222-Member-2022-US-Olympic-Team

I did not realize that it is Evan Bates fourth Olympics! All respect to him!

 

[Frau Muller]

Cross posting from GSD threads.

Team Russia (ROC) ready to travel! All sport delegations gathered in their respective pre-departure center for a Zoom session with Putin! The segment showing the figure skaters gathered together begins at the 2:51mark…with Kamila as spokesperson!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_m36FgkzDEk

 

[Sylvia]

2 men on Hungary's Olympic short track skating team -- Liu Shaoang and Alex Varnyú -- have tested positive before the team's departure from Hungary, according to the Hungarian federation:

Pozitív lett Varnyú Alex COVID-tesztje | Magyar Országos Korcsolyázó Szövetség - MOKSZ

A hamarosan Pekingbe utazó rövidpályás gyorskorcsolya válogatott tagjának kedd reggeli tesztje pozitív lett. Liu Shaoanghoz hasonlóan Alex is tünetmentes, terhelhető és állandó felügyelet mellett készül tovább az Olimpiára. A szakmai és orvosi stáb folyamatosan monitorozza az összes csapattag...

tinyurl.com

A member of the short-distance speed skating national team, who will soon be traveling to Beijing, tested positive on Tuesday morning. Like Liu Shaoang, Alex continues to prepare for the Olympics asymptomatic, stressful, and under constant supervision.

The professional and medical staff constantly monitors the health of all team members and is prepared for every opportunity for the optimally qualified team to start in Beijing.

With the exception of our two competitors involved, the short track team will leave for Beijing on Wednesday morning. According to the plans of the professional staff, after the necessary negative tests [produced for five consecutive days is required], the two competitors - who previously produced a positive test - will join the team later.

 

[Sylvia]

Associated Press article today: https://tinyurl.com/2e2hjccr

Two members of Norway’s women’s cross-country ski squad have tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of next month’s Beijing Olympics, the team said Wednesday.
Heidi Weng and Anne Kjersti Kalvå contracted COVID-19 at a training camp in the Italian Alpine resort of Seiser Alm and are now isolating.
Norwegian cross-country manager Espen Bjervig said in a video call their participation in the Olympics was uncertain.
Team doctor Øystein Andersen said Italian rules mean that Weng and Kalvå will be in isolation for 10 days, until Feb. 3. The opening ceremony is on Feb. 4 and the Olympic cross-country skiing program starts the next day.

“This is a shocking situation,” Andersen said.
Weng is the top-ranked Norwegian and a five-time world champion.
“We have a reserve in the squad, and we also have other athletes who are accredited and can be ready,” Bjervig said of possible replacements. “But basically now the focus is on looking at the opportunities for those who have been taken out.”

ETA that the AP article has since been updated to note that "Swiss hockey players, Russian bobsledders and German skeleton sliders are among other would-be Olympians facing a nervous wait."

A bit more info on the Norwegian cross-country teams from the NBC Sports Olympic Talk article:

The [women's] team had planned to leave for Beijing on Thursday but will now be delayed.
The entire men’s team is also in isolation in Seiser Alm after head coach Arild Monsen tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to Norway on Monday.
All eight team members were defined as a close contact of Monsen and were awaiting the results of PCR tests. They are now scheduled to depart for Beijing on Monday.

 

[Seerek]

Really a shame, Shaoang Liu, Heidi Weng, Nikita Tregubov were all medal contenders

 

[Sylvia]

Breezy Johnson, top U.S. downhill skier, to miss Winter Olympics

Breezy Johnson, the world's second-best female downhill ski racer, will miss the Winter Olympics after injuring her right knee.

olympics.nbcsports.com

This season, she [Johnson] finished second to 2018 Olympic champion Sofia Goggia of Italy in each of the first three World Cup downhills. Then Johnson suffered a small meniscus tear in her right knee in a separate training crash on Jan. 8.
(Goggia crashed in a super-G on Sunday, causing leg injuries that will make it challenging for her to race at the Olympics. It’s possible the Olympic downhill includes neither of the world’s top two women.)

Defending snowboard cross gold medalist Michela Moioli will replace Sofia Goggia as Italy’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony:

Moioli replaces Goggia as Italy's flag bearer at Olympics

MILAN (AP) — Defending snowboard cross gold medalist Michela Moioli will replace Sofia Goggia as Italy’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics after the latter’s injury over the weekend.

apnews.com

Goggia was injured during a World Cup super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Sunday. The 29-year-old skier sprained her left knee, partially tore a cruciate ligament and has a “minor fracture” of the fibula bone in her leg, along with some tendon damage.
...
Moioli, who won Italy’s first gold medal in snowboarding at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, was slated to carry the country’s flag at the closing ceremony. CONI will announce her replacement in the coming weeks.

ETA: https://olympics.com/en/news/sofia-goggia-after-her-injury-if-this-is-god-s-plan-i-have-to-accept-it

Goggia has started her rehabilitation in the pool and is receiving cryotherapy treatment as she aims to reduce the swelling in her knee: The goal - as she revealed in a statement after the response of the doctors - is to line up for the Olympic downhill race scheduled in Yanqing on 15 February.
...
The mandatory training runs for the downhill start on Saturday 12 February.

 

[sk9tingfan]

Figure Skating Team Event Rosters posted:

https://results.isu.org/events/owg2022_TeamEvent.pdf

 

[Sylvia]

Figure Skating Team Event Rosters posted:

The 6 countries with more than one entry per discipline have yet to announce the initial competitors for the team event (is the deadline Feb. 2nd?).

Links to the entry lists by discipline, music rotations in official practices, and an updated colored competition/practice schedule are posted in the Entries thread (2022 Olympics foum in Kiss & Cry): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/entries.109117/page-3#post-6175721

 

[Karen-W]

The 6 countries with more than one entry per discipline have yet to announce the initial competitors for the team event (is the deadline Feb. 2nd?).

Links to the entry lists by discipline, music rotations in official practices, and an updated colored competition/practice schedule are posted in the Entries thread (2022 Olympics foum in Kiss & Cry): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/entries.109117/page-3#post-6175721

Deadlines for TE participants are as follows:

2/3 10am local - Men's SP, Pairs SP, Dance RD
2/5 10am local - Women's SP
2/6 - Men's FS - immediately following the Women's SP
2/6 - Pairs FS, Dance FD, Women's FS - immediately following the Men's FS

So, yes, 2/2 for those of us in NA is the first deadline, lol.

 

[Sylvia]

Yahoo! Sports article (Jan. 26) on U.S. bobsledder Josh Williamson who tested positive for c0vid on on Sunday, four days before he was scheduled to depart for Beijing:

Josh Williamson is first Team USA athlete to test positive for COVID ahead of 2022 Olympics

Williamson, a bobsledder, tested positive on Sunday and is still hoping to arrive late and compete in the Beijing Olympics.

tinyurl.com

Williamson announced the positive test in an Instagram post on Wednesday. He's the first U.S. athlete named to the 2022 Olympic team to reveal a positive in the two weeks leading into the Games, which begin Feb. 4.
With bobsled events scheduled for the final week of the Olympics, Williamson said he was still hoping to compete. He'll need multiple negative tests, a buffer of a few days, and a late-arriving flight to get to Beijing in time for training runs beginning Feb. 10.
The two-man bobsled competition begins Feb. 14, and the four-man competition is Feb. 19 and 20, the final two days of the Games. Williamson would likely compete in the two-man and definitely in the four-man, if cleared.
A Team USA charter flight is scheduled to depart from California on Thursday. Other special Olympic flights, though, will run throughout February, giving Williamson hope.

ETA that I just saw this article link was posted yesterday in the "Articles/press coverage/CV19 issues" thread in the 2022 Olympics forum in the Kiss & Cry section: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/articles-press-coverage-cv19-issues.109320/#post-6176238
(I'm still using this thread for news before the official start of the Olympics.)

 

[Sylvia]

Bloomberg article (Jan. 24):

The Logistical Nightmare of Getting Athletes to the Olympics

Flying chartered is a luxury often reserved for rock stars and royalty. But China’s approach to Covid, with officials determined to stamp out the virus, means that most of the 3,000 or so skiers, snowboarders, skaters and bobsleigh riders descending on Beijing for the Winter Olympics next month...

www.bloomberg.com

Excerpts:

Delta Air Lines Inc., official carrier for Team USA, has reached an agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee to operate a single charter on an Airbus SE A350 to fly athletes and others to the Games from Los Angeles on Jan. 27. It will make a stop in Incheon in South Korea to refuel and change crew. Another flight has been agreed for the 2022 Winter Paralympics that start on March 4.
“This is unprecedented for the Games,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said of the planned single charter. “No one has ever carried this much of a contingent to the Games on one flight.” The A350 is Delta’s largest plane, seating 306.
According to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the two delegations will include about 300 athletes once qualifiers are complete, plus several hundred coaches, trainers and support staff. The committee is also overseeing separate travel arrangements for U.S. athletes taking part in international competitions in other countries prior to the Games.

Team Canada is flying in 109 athletes on two specially-arranged flights with Air Canada, whose scheduled Beijing route is suspended due to Covid. Teams from some of Europe’s biggest winter sporting nations are also traveling on chartered planes.
Deutsche Lufthansa AG, owner of the flag-carriers of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, will fly those countries’ Olympic teams. Its namesake Lufthansa brand will transport the German team -- placed second after Norway in the medals table in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea -- on four chartered Boeing Co. 747s from Frankfurt directly to the Chinese capital, a journey of around 10-and-a-half hours.

Austrian Airlines AG will fly the Austrian team, winner of the most downhill skiing medals at the 2018 Games, from Vienna to Beijing on chartered flights departing on Jan. 28 and Jan. 30. Swiss International Air Lines AG, however, will ferry athletes from Zurich to Beijing on daily scheduled flights ahead of the Games. Both airlines will use Boeing 777s, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa said.
The Finnish Olympic Committee has chartered direct flights with Finnair Oyj from Helsinki, FOC spokesman Mika Noronen said, while the Swedish team is also shunning the other option of so-called temporary flights.

South Korea is sending only a handful of athletes across disciplines including curling and figure skating. For that, Korean Air Lines Co. will operate a total of four chartered flights through Feb. 21, using regular passenger aircraft as well as passenger jets that have been transporting cargo during the pandemic.
The airline said it has agreed to provide two chartered flights for athletes and delegates from the Czech Republic, without providing more details.

 

[Karen-W]

This isn't figure skating related but I just have to share this IG reel from Team USA speedskater Joey Mantia https://www.instagram.com/reel/CZPj7A_Bbr9/?utm_medium=copy_link lololol!

 

[Gris]

Slovenia snowboarder fails COVID test in Beijing

A snowboarder from Slovenia has tested positive for the coronavirus after landing in Beijing for the Olympics, the country's national Olympic committee said Friday.

tinyurl.com

Snowboarder Žan Košir, one of Slovenia's flag bearers, tested positive upon arriving at Beijing.

 

[Sylvia]

Five members of Canada's Olympic delegation were placed under COVID-19 protocols upon arrival in Beijing — although it's unclear whether than means they tested positive and are in quarantine.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it would not be sharing names "because there will likely be persistent shedders," meaning people who continue to test positive for the virus long after their initial diagnosis.

CBC Sports article today (Jan. 28): https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/canada-olympic-delegation-five-in-protocol-1.6331033

 

[Sylvia]

Why South Korean short-track speed skater Shim Suk-hee won't be able to compete in what would have been her third Olympics:

How double Olympic gold medalist Shim Suk-hee lost the race to overturn her ban ahead of Beijing 2022 | CNN

At the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, South Korean speed skater Shim Suk-hee stepped onto the podium with her teammates for gold medals -- the crowning moments of her sporting career.

www.cnn.com

Excerpts:

It all began in October 2021, when Shim's text messages with a former national women's skating coach were leaked. In the messages, Shim mocked her teammates and discussed making a "Bradbury," raising suspicions of race fixing. [...]
In December, KSU's investigation committee also looked into a collision between Shim and her teammate Choi Min-jeong during the 1,000-meter final in Pyeongchang four years ago and concluded that Shim had intentionally used her right arm to push Choi's left arm during the race.
The committee, however, did not officially conclude the charge of race fixing as there was no evidence to prove Shim's intentions.
The KSU's Fair Play Committee, which administers discipline, later suspended Shim for two months for "marring the dignity of athletes" as she admitted to disparaging her teammates in a series of text messages.

Shim's legal representative, who is unauthorized to speak on the record, told CNN that they had argued in court whether it was fair to include the content of personal text messages in the duty of a national athlete to maintain dignity.
Her side also claimed the text messages were illegally leaked to the media by former coach Cho Jae-beom, who had been found guilty and sentenced to a 13-year prison term for the rape and sexual assault of Shim.
Shim's representative said they told the court that the personal messages being leaked allegedly by Cho amounted to a "secondary victimization" of Shim.
The KSU countered that the "strict rule of evidence" does not apply to civil proceedings and that the two-month suspension is the result of the union's investigation; Shim had already publicly admitted to -- and apologized for -- mocking her teammates.
"The text messages were exchanged with the assumption that they would not be made public, but then were leaked by other [Cho]'s criminal act," Shim's representative said.

 

[Vagabond]

So someone who has worked most of their life to get to the Olys and has a chance most people only dream about, gives up an opportunity they may never have again all b/c they don't want to get a freaking vaccine? X 100

https://olympics.com/en/athletes/claudia-riegler-1

Claudia Riegler competed at the Olympics in 1994, 1998, and 2002. She was 17 when she competed in Lillehammer.

 

[Debbie S]

https://olympics.com/en/athletes/claudia-riegler-1

Claudia Riegler competed at the Olympics in 1994, 1998, and 2002. She was 17 when she competed in Lillehammer.

OK, but still

 

[Sylvia]

Yahoo! Sports article (Jan. 26) on U.S. bobsledder Josh Williamson who tested positive for c0vid on on Sunday, four days before he was scheduled to depart for Beijing:

Josh Williamson is first Team USA athlete to test positive for COVID ahead of 2022 Olympics

Williamson, a bobsledder, tested positive on Sunday and is still hoping to arrive late and compete in the Beijing Olympics.

tinyurl.com

Update on the Team USA men's bobsled team's situation from Yahoo! Sports:

Sources: U.S. Olympic bobsled team dealing with COVID-19 'nightmare'

The Olympics haven't even started and already Team USA is dealing with COVID.

tinyurl.com

A USA Bobsled and Skeleton official confirmed Friday evening that the team's delegation had "had multiple positive COVID-19 tests," but did not provide further details. [...]
The USABS source said that, "at this time," the federation "still expects everyone to go to Beijing." Some athletes and staff have already arrived, on a Team USA charter flight that departed from California on Thursday. Others now hope to depart on separate flights in the coming days.
The Games officially begin next Friday, Feb. 4, but bobsled competition does not begin until Feb. 13. The first day of training runs is Feb. 10.

Various Olympics flights will run between the U.S. and Beijing between now and then. Williamson, a 25-year-old first-time Olympian, said he was hoping to catch one of them. He said he first tested positive this past Sunday, meaning he'll likely clear his infection well before the two-man and four-man bobsled competitions, which begin Feb. 14 and 19, respectively.
Olympic rules, however, present extra hurdles. Williamson — like every other member of the delegation who has tested positive this month — will need four consecutive days of negative tests, plus a fifth-day buffer, before he can depart, according to updated protocols finalized late last week.
Each of the four tests must be a PCR test, which can remain positive for weeks after a person clears the contagious phase of their infection.

 

[skatingguy]

Team Taiwan won't be at Winter Olympics opening ceremony​

Taiwan's small team for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing will not take part in the opening or closing ceremonies, the government said on Friday, blaming delayed flights, tough anti-COVID-19 rules and an early departure.

Chinese-claimed Taiwan had feared Beijing could "downgrade" Taiwan's status by putting its athletes alongside those from Chinese-run Hong Kong at the opening ceremony, a senior Taiwan official familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.

Team Taiwan won't be at Winter Olympics opening ceremony

Taiwan's small team for next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing will not take part in the opening or closing ceremonies, the government said on Friday, blaming delayed flights, tough anti-COVID-19 rules and an early departure.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[gingercrush]

https://olympics.com/en/athletes/claudia-riegler-1

Claudia Riegler competed at the Olympics in 1994, 1998, and 2002. She was 17 when she competed in Lillehammer.

That is Claudia Riegler the Alpine skiier from New Zealand. This is the correct Claudia Riegler https://olympics.com/en/athletes/claudia-riegler#b2p-athlete-olympic-results

 

[Sylvia]

From The Guardian (Jan. 30):

Sport, politics and Covid collide at the Beijing Winter Olympics

The Beijing Games will open on Friday in a country that hopes sport will be the talking point. But political twists or a resurgent virus could leave the event skating on thin ice

tinyurl.com

 

[Seerek]

More medal contenders from various sports recently testing positive

Natalia Maliszewska - short track (already in Beijing qualifications for her best event (500m) is this Saturday)

Marita Kramer - ski jumping (she's not yet in China, but qualifications for the individual event are next Sunday, and the mixed team event is the following Tuesday).

https://www.chiemgau24.de/winterspo...t-olympia-2022-wohl-gelaufen-zr-91269209.html

 

[DreamSkates]

How long is the flights to Beijing? With a charter thank god. I assume Canada would leave from leave from Vancouver?

I hate flying .. not because I am afraid of flying … I get SO bored! Plus I can’t sleep . The not sleeping on overseas flights is a big one for me.

On the two overseas flights I have been on, I took some melatonin and go some sort of sleep rather than binging on movies! I did wake up for the ice cream snack in the middle of the night.

 

[Judy]

On the two overseas flights I have been on, I took some melatonin and go some sort of sleep rather than binging on movies! I did wake up for the ice cream snack in the middle of the night.

Nothing works for me! Nothing! I even took a sleeping pill the last time and it didn’t work. I really feel I could sleep in a pod if it was free though Good call on the ice cream though lol.

 

[moebius]

This is beginning to look like a boycotted Olympics with so many athletes testing positive

 

[Sylvia]

CBC Sports article today (Jan. 28): https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/canada-olympic-delegation-five-in-protocol-1.6331033

@4rkidz so this was likely one of the "Five members of Canada's Olympic delegation were placed under CV-19 protocols upon arrival in Beijing"?

... one of our short trackers was positive upon arrival in Beijing but then tested negative so is now in the village.

 

[skatingguy]

This is beginning to look like a boycotted Olympics with so many athletes testing positive

So far the total number of positive tests in Beijing is 51, and that includes a lot of people who are not athletes. There have been a few that have tested positive before leaving for China, like Kolyada, but that number is relatively small, and nothing close to the thousands of athletes that were kept from competing by boycotts in 1980, and 1984.

Articles/press coverage/CV19 issues

Here’s Russia Channel One’s report on the team’s arrival in Peking Just curious about your spelling. I was taught that Peking was obsolete in English usage and to use Beijing.

www.fsuniverse.net

 

[allezfred]

This is beginning to look like a boycotted Olympics with so many athletes testing positive

Check your eyesight.

 

[skatingguy]

China says United States plans to pay athletes to 'sabotage' Beijing Olympics​

China's foreign ministry and an official newspaper have accused the United States of planning to interfere with and "sabotage" the Beijing Winter Olympics by paying athletes from some countries to make half-hearted efforts in competition and to criticize China.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/china-united-states-athletes-foreign-ministry-olympics-1.6332438

 

[skipaway]

Olympic Ski Jump 2018 Champion not competing because of Weight
Very sad situation regarding eating disorders.