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Headshot of <span class="author-name text-name1">Alex Peebles</span>
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International

Athletes, journalists struggle with COVID-19 protocols at Beijing Olympics

Headshot of <span class="author-name text-name1">Alex Peebles</span>
Alex Peebles Reporter
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The COVID-19 protocols at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing were expected to be stringent. Just a few days into the Games, those protocols have already made headlines.

Monday’s women’s hockey game between Canada and the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was delayed by over an hour as officials waited on test results for the Russian team. In order to get the game to start, both teams agreed to wear masks, making the game the first Olympic women’s hockey game to require all players to do so. The Russians eventually took off theirs for the start of the third period after the tests revealed no additional positive results.

“It’s not enough oxygen,” Russian forward Alexandra Vafina said. “So for us in the first period was pretty hard, but we adjusted to that.” Canada ended up winning the game 6-1.

The hockey players weren’t the only ones to run into issues related to the COVID-19 protocols at the Beijing Olympics. Belgian skeleton athlete Kim Meylemans went viral for an emotional video she posted on Instagram last week. She had tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Beijing. After returning several negative tests, Meylemans thought she was going to the Olympic village. However, she was taken to another hotel serving as an isolation facility instead.

“Obviously this is very hard for me,” Mylemans said in the video. “So I ask for you all to give me some time to consider my next steps, because I’m not sure I can handle 14 more days in the Olympic competition while being in this isolation.”

International Olympic Committee officials convened after the video was posted, and Mylemsans was back on the ice training Monday. She will continue to be tested twice a day, and she is still not cleared to return to the Olympic village until later this week.

It’s not just the athletes who have to deal with the COVID-19 protocols in Beijing. A Swedish journalist who was taken to isolation has begun releasing columns for the newspaper he works for.

“It was a really terrifying experience and it just felt like… it didn’t feel real. It felt like as if I was in a movie, a sci-fi movie or something,” Philip Gadd told Reuters in a Zoom interview from his quarantine hotel. “It was really hard to understand that everything happened to me. I was really far away from home. I’m from Sweden, so I have travelled all the way to China and I was just by myself, nobody to speak to, in an ambulance.

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Gwen Baumgardner: DESPITE THE PUBLIC COMPLAINTS, CHINA IS NOT EASING UP ON IT’S STRICT COVID PROTOCOLS AT THE BEIJING OLYMPICS.

MONDAY’S WOMEN’S HOCKEY GAME BETWEEN CANADA AND THE RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE WAS DELAYED OVER AN HOUR AS OFFICIALS WAITED TO RECEIVE THE RUSSIAN TEAM’S COVID TEST RESULTS.
WHEN THE GAME DID GET UNDERWAY — ALL PLAYERS HAD TO WEAR MASKS.
A BELGIAN ATHLETE WENT VIRAL AFTER HER VIDEO HIGHLIGHTED THE EXTENDED ISOLATION POLICY.
Kim Meylemans // Belgian Skeleton Athlete: “And obviously this is very hard for me. So I ask for you all to give me some time to consider my next steps, because I’m not sure I can handle 14 more days in the Olympic competition while being in this isolation.”
Gwen Baumgardner: SHE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID AFTER ARRIVING IN CHINA. BUT EVEN AFTER SEVERAL NEGATIVE TESTS…SHE WAS TAKEN TO ANOTHER ISOLATION FACILITY.
SHE WAS ALLOWED BACK ON THE ICE FOR TRAINING MONDAY.
BUT IS STILL BEING TESTED TWICE A DAY AND WON’T BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE FOR A FEW MORE DAYS.
JOURNALISTS ARE SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCES… DURING EVENTS, SEPARATED FROM THE ATHLETES BY METAL BARRIERS.
SWEDISH JOURNALIST PHILIP GADD TESTED POSITIVE WHILE IN BEJING. HE DESCRIBES BEING TAKEN TO ISOLATION BY AMBULANCE, WHILE BEING COVERED IN A FULL BODY PROTECTIVE SUIT.
HE DESCRIBED THE EXPERIENCE LIKE BEING IN A SCI-FI MOVIE.
THEN THERE’S THIS VIDEO FROM A DUTCH NEWS AGENCY.
AS YOU CAN SEE- A CHINESE OFFICIAL APPEARS TO SHUT DOWN THE REPORT LIVE ON AIR.
CHINESE OFFICIALS NOT ALLOWING ANY LIVE NEWS COVERAGE OF THE CITY THAT THEY HAVEN’T APPROVED BEFOREHAND.