POC praises Winter Olympics organizers for effective COVID-19 response
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino has nothing but high praises for Beijing Winter Olympics organizers for their strict but effective COVID-19 response.
“I’m really impressed with the closed loop system, it’s very effective,” said Tolentino, who was in Beijing overseeing Fil-Am alpine skier Asa Miller’s preparation for the giant slalom and slalom events set February 13 and 16 at the National Alpine Skiing Centre.
“You break the loop, you get penalized,” he added.
The congressman from Tagaytay described the closed loop system as a point-to-point arrangement where athletes, officials and Games staff move around through a bus route format that is practically impregnable from outside and in.
“China is implementing a zero-tolerance policy against Covid-19 and the implementation is very superb,” said Tolentino. “When we were in Tokyo, we can go out [of the village or hotel] and buy a coffee at Starbucks. But here, you can’t do it. Everything is in the hotel or inside the three Olympic Villages. You can buy it there.
The PhilCycling chief said there’s a big scanner in every entrance where it can detect via facial recognition if a delegate is COVID-19 free or not.
As for the volunteers and Winter Olympics officials numbering around 27,000, they were quartered in hotels for two months and weren’t allowed to go home until the Games have concluded.
The Winter Games involve around 60,000 individuals—athletes, officials, local workforce, volunteers and journalists, all tested everyday.
The Beijing organizers reported that there were 353 positive tests so far since operations turned full bloom last January 23.
In the Tokyo Olympics, there 430 confirmed cases—32 of which were from the Olympic Village—from July 1 up to the closing ceremony on August 4, 2021.
In Beijing, Chinese sports officials are hoping to have lesser incidents.
Next year's Winter Olympics in Beijing will be held without spectators from overseas with tickets restricted to fans living in China because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday.
The IOC said only fully vaccinated participants would be exempt from a 21-day quarantine. Athletes who can provide a "justified medical exemption" will have their cases considered.
All attendees will enter a strict bubble upon arrival that covers Games-related areas and stadiums as well as accommodation, catering and the opening and closing ceremonies. — AFP | Main photo by FRED DUFOUR / AFP
The International Paralympic Committee president says he is still waiting for China's state broadcaster to explain the apparent censorship of his forceful anti-war speech at the opening of the Beijing Winter Games, nearly a week on.
CCTV has not responded to the IPC's questions or made any guarantees that it won't happen again at this Sunday's closing ceremony of the Beijing Paralympics.
"Not yet. We asked about it. We are still waiting for their position or explanation," IPC president Andrew Parsons tells AFP.
Johannes Strolz bags a third Beijing Olympics medal as Austria beat Germany to win the alpine mixed team parallel event on Sunday.
Strolz, winner of the men's alpine combined and silver medallist in the slalom in Yanqing, is part of a winning Austrian quartet that also included Katharina Liensberger, Katharina Truppe and Stefan Brennsteiner. — AFP
Sport's top court dismisses an appeal from American skaters to get their Beijing Olympics team silver medals after they were held back because of the Kamila Valieva doping scandal.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport says a panel "decided to dismiss the application" after deliberating by video conference. — AFP
Beijing Olympics organizers say that there were no new COVID-19 cases in the "closed-loop" bubble for the first time, hailing the success of China's strict approach.
There were fears ahead of the Olympics that COVID-19 could badly impact the Games, especially with the more contagious Omicron variant.
The nearly 3,000 athletes and more than 60,000 support staff, volunteers, journalists and others are cocooned inside a vast bubble where they must be tested every day and wear a mask at all times. — AFP
Russia's Olympic Committee on Monday welcomed the announcement that figure skater Kamila Valieva has been cleared to continue competing in the Beijing Olympics despite failing a doping test.
"Tomorrow the whole country will support her and all our wonderful female skaters in the individuals competition," the committee said on Telegram, calling it the "best news of the day". — AFP
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