Canadian snowboarder says Beijing's 'sports prison' closed-loop 'isn't that bad'

After seeing the tight measures dictating athletes’ movement at last summer’s Tokyo Olympic games, it was clear that similarly - and even more - restrictive procedures were going to be implemented to keep COVID-19 out of Beijing’s Olympic Village setup.

Following Tuesday’s snowboarding big air final, Canadian star snowboarder Mark McMorris shared an interesting perspective of his stay in China so far.

“It’s kind of like a sports prison,” McMorris said via the Canadian Press. “You're just chilling. You don't do anything. Which isn't that bad, you get lots of rest, hanging out.”

While their movement is monitored and controlled, some athletes seem to be taking advantage of the subdued atmosphere and just “hanging out,” as evidenced by a video of the Dutch speed skating team trying their hand at a “Squid Game” inspired challenge with Korean short-track skater Kwak Yoon-gy.

The 2022 Beijing Winter games have a unique setup, divided into three zones: Beijing, Yanqing, and Zhangjiakou. Each zone, or cluster, comprises a housing complex for athletes and the various facilities used for the events, organized based on geographical proximity.

Despite McMorris’s relatively positive outlook on his day-to-day life in Beijing, some other athletes’ public complaints have negatively reinforced this “sports prison” notion.

Some of the Games’ early controversies came with confusion around China’s imposed quarantine and isolation rules, with athletes being moved from facility to facility after positive COVID tests.

Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans went viral two weeks ago when she posted an emotional video to Instagram detailing her disconcerting experience after testing positive upon her arrival in China.

Meylemans was eventually brought to an isolation wing of the Yanqing Olympic Village following an intervention by the International Olympic Committee and the Belgian Olympic Committee.

A few days later, Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova garnered attention online when she shared photos of the meals she was provided while in isolation, being served the same tepid dish for “breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already.”

Last week, Finnish cross country skier Katri Lylynpera shared videos of flooding in Team Finland’s hotel in Beijing.

The footage was taken down, with rumours swirling online that Chinese officials had ordered Lylynpera to delete the videos. A Finnish spokesperson denied this, minimizing it to “pure social media rumour.”

While this may be true, deputy director general of Beijing 2022’s International Relations Department Yang Shu has issued a chilling warning to athletes, saying they would be “punished” if they staged any kind of protest against the games over rights issues.

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