2022 Winter Olympics status updates, news articles, etc.

Lil Sarah

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I'm pretty happy that John Morris & Rachel Holman were picked. To be honest I'm not sure how they could ever choose the best MD team - I feel like we really needed the trials.

I loved the extra teams at the Scotties last year (of course due to the bubble). So I am happy they decided to add more teams to this years.. even though it was a very round about way to do it.
 

Seerek

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5,780
I do feel for the top ranked team who were atop the ranking points standing - but with both Morris and Homan having prior Olympic experience and Morris being one half of the defending Olympic gold medalists, it was quite obvious who CC/COC would choose.

Interestingly, there are a few curlers from other counties who will be doing double duty at the Olympics, mixed as well as four person (Mouat, Plys, Eriksson) - not allowed in Canada as per their qualification rules.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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22,096
Beijing identifies its first Omicron case. Spectators at events now relegated to clapping…no cheering or voicing support allowed (last sentence in article…”restricted to clapping”).

 
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Gris

不做奴才做公民
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Edit

The spectator policy is now official. https://www.beijing2022.cn/wog.htm?cmsid=20220117006291

Given the current grave and complicated situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, it was decided that tickets should not be sold anymore but be part of an adapted programme that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games.
 
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UMBS Go Blue

Слава Україні!
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Thanks @Gris - only now being reported in Western media:

The organizers committee said they had created an “adapted program” to allow some spectators, suggesting that groups that had been sufficiently screened and quarantined would be invited to attend.

Those could involve government workers, sponsors or government officials, but the committee did not elaborate except to make clear that the public would not be able to buy tickets, which had not yet gone on sale.
 

Karen-W

Checking Senior Bs for TES mins...
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Article by CBC Sports


CBC Sports has learned the Beijing Olympic Committee is using a higher testing threshold for detecting positive *********-19 cases, making it more challenging for Canadian athletes, especially those who have recently recovered from the *****, to produce a negative test upon arriving in China.
This is going to get really ugly, really fast, if the Beijing organizers and the CCP don't loosen up.
 

seabm7

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2,146

I checked the CT value information by digging the South Korean internet pages. It turned out this threshold is determined by the kit manufacturer, not by the government, and the range is between 35 and 40. The threshold value depends on what kind of genetic info the manufacturer targets for testing. So 40 in China could not be the same 40 in South Korea or elsewhere.

ETD: Sometimes, if the first PCR test results in the borderline area, a second test is required. The South Korean experts (edited) recommend 33.5 as a decision value (that is, to have a second test or not) for the next step.
 
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aka_gerbil

Rooting for the Underdogs
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4,713
This is going to get really ugly, really fast, if the Beijing organizers and the CCP don't loosen up.

There are very few things in this world I am a master at skill-wise. qPCR is one of them. With the kinetics of qpcr assays, a Ct over 35 is considered suspect/false positive and not to be trusted as reliable data.

If I were any other country and had an athlete test positive, I would ask to see the actual raw data from the qPCR run to know what cycle it came up on. If over 35, I’d ask for a retest at a minimum.
 

AxelAnnie

Like a small boat on the ocean...
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There are very few things in this world I am a master at skill-wise. qPCR is one of them. With the kinetics of qpcr assays, a Ct over 35 is considered suspect/false positive and not to be trusted as reliable data.

If I were any other country and had an athlete test positive, I would ask to see the actual raw data from the qPCR run to know what cycle it came up on. If over 35, I’d ask for a retest at a minimum.
You realize this is China, right? Not exactly the most transparent "team player". IMO, in terms of data, China has a lot to obfuscate about.
 

aka_gerbil

Rooting for the Underdogs
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You realize this is China, right? Not exactly the most transparent "team player". IMO, in terms of data, China has a lot to obfuscate about.

I realize that very much.

My initial concern was that they’d spike the positive control into test samples but using a ridiculously high ct value is another way to do it…. And I suppose they could tamper with raw data too and supply a run file from a sample that was actually positive and not from the athlete in question.

There are several points in the screening that could be manipulated to give a result that excludes athletes that are threats to China’s medal hopes.
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
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58,281
If I were a NGB, I would demand that any athletes that tested positive get a retest at an independent lab. They could band together to set something up in another country couriers' distance away -- say in South Korea.

I do hope that China realizes that, if people think they are messing with the samples, it will look bad for them and the same if they have a lot of positives during the games. They don't want this Olympics to be known as the Super-Spreader Olympics so falsifying tests in a way that increases the number of positives contributes to a bad look.
 

AxelAnnie

Like a small boat on the ocean...
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Lara

Bonjour/Hi to everyone at Worlds!
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19,396
I’m not a PCR expert but do know 30-35 max cycles is standard. At least the info’s out now so the Oly medical teams should know to verify any positive results.

This definitely could get ugly, sigh.
 

Sylvia

TBD
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79,983
https://tinyurl.com/nkxsrbxm (USA Today article by C. Brennan)

As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games approach and *********-19 concerns mount, NBC Sports will not send any of its announcing teams to China, a spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday afternoon.

“The announce teams for these Olympics, including figure skating, will be calling events from our Stamford (Conn.) facility due to ********* concerns,” Greg Hughes, senior vice president communications, NBC Sports, said in a phone interview.

"We’ll still have a large presence on the ground in Beijing and our coverage of everything will be first rate as usual, but our plans are evolving by the day as they are for most media companies covering the Olympics.”

NBC’s broadcasting teams for figure skating, Alpine skiing and snowboarding had been expected to be in Beijing, but those plans have been canceled.
 

AxelAnnie

Like a small boat on the ocean...
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14,463
https://tinyurl.com/nkxsrbxm (USA Today article by C. Brennan)

As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games approach and *********-19 concerns mount, NBC Sports will not send any of its announcing teams to China, a spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports Wednesday afternoon.

“The announce teams for these Olympics, including figure skating, will be calling events from our Stamford (Conn.) facility due to ********* concerns,” Greg Hughes, senior vice president communications, NBC Sports, said in a phone interview.

"We’ll still have a large presence on the ground in Beijing and our coverage of everything will be first rate as usual, but our plans are evolving by the day as they are for most media companies covering the Olympics.”

NBC’s broadcasting teams for figure skating, Alpine skiing and snowboarding had been expected to be in Beijing, but those plans have been canceled.
Oh Man! We are screwed.
 

Spikefan

Rooting for that middle-aged team
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4,551

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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22,096
Oh Man! We are screwed.
Well, at least some of us were planning all along to watch the live-streaming version of events on Peacock or nbcolympics. 😉

Furthermore, Olympic Ice stopped being a fun on-site show a long long time ago…so no loss there.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
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22,096
Sorry, I was asking about Alysa's father.
Oh, oops!

A while back, I read that only coaches and other officials would accompany athletes to Beijing. (Same as families not going to Tokyo last year.) I remember thinking “Whew! At least Arthur won’t have to worry about his own well being…”
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
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58,281
I suspect he's not as happy about it. He seems really invested in her career and going to the Olympics seems to have been the end game for a while now.
 

Frau Muller

From Puerto Rico…With Love! Not LatinX!
Messages
22,096
I suspect he's not as happy about it. He seems really invested in her career and going to the Olympics seems to have been the end game for a while now.
True…but he’s known for a while that the country from which he escaped in 1989 would be the host…
 

SLIVER

Well-Known Member
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3,365
This is going to get really ugly, really fast, if the Beijing organizers and the CCP don't loosen up.
What a sh*t show. I don't understand, If I've recently been infected, then clear the infection, I need 3 negative tests in a row?? What does that prove exactly and how can you be infectious straight away again, after you've just had it and cleared it? Then another 2 tests 96-72 hours before departure?? Please someone explain to me 'scientifically' what this actually means, preferably in English...
I also hope all competing Federations are using the same 40 threshold for their testing too, so anyone that has a false positive gets the news when they are still at home and has time to know that they are 'still shedding' (even though they are no longer infectious). At least in that circumstance they can deal with it and somehow prepare whatever documents or whatever proof they need should they get another false positive upon landing in China.
 
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