Category Archives: Olympics

Vincent Zhou, who competed on Sunday, may not be able to take the ice in time for his second competition on Tuesday. Harry How/Getty Images hide caption

Vincent Zhou, who competed on Sunday, may not be able to take the ice in time for his second competition on Tuesday.

BEIJING U.S. men's figure skater Vincent Zhou has tested positive for COVID-19 putting his chance for another Olympic medal at risk.

"As part of yesterday's regular COVID-19 screening, Vincent Zhou tested positive," a U.S. figure skating representative said in a statement. "Under the guidance of the [U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee] medical staff, Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status."

The announcement comes on the day the U.S. figure skating won silver in the team competition. Zhou competed on Sunday in the team event as a substitute for three-time world champion Nathan Chen.

Zhou is supposed to compete again on Tuesday in the men's short program. If he tests negative in subsequent COVID-19 tests, Zhou would still be able to compete.

If not, he will be placed in isolation, like other athletes who tested positive in Beijing, until he tests negative on two consecutive PCR tests.

This is the 21-year-old's second appearance at the Winter Olympic Games. He competed in Pyeongchang in 2018 but did not medal.

See the article here:

U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive for COVID-19 at the Winter Olympics - NPR

Irene Schouten of Team Netherlands crosses the line ahead of Francesca Lollobrigida of Team Italy during the women's 3000-meter on the first of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Speed Skating Oval. Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images hide caption

Irene Schouten of Team Netherlands crosses the line ahead of Francesca Lollobrigida of Team Italy during the women's 3000-meter on the first of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Speed Skating Oval.

BEIJING As the first full day of events kicked off at the 2022 Winter Olympics, speedskaters took to the ice of the newly-built National Speed Skating Oval.

Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Games and retooled many of its old venues to be used for winter sports. The Oval is the city's only new ice-sport venue for the competition.

Underneath each of the flying skaters is smooth ice made through a new, environmentally friendly method.

"It's a game changer in a lot of ways," Mark Messer, the Beijing 2022 ice technician at the National Speed Skating Oval, said.

As athletes prepare to compete in a series of speedskating events, they have to worry about familiarizing themselves with the Oval's new conditions.

"It was something new. I was asking other skaters how it feels," Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida said. "Some people were saying it was softer. But it was different day by day."

She was one of the 20 women to skate first at the venue during Saturday's 3,000-meter event at the Oval.

Lollobrigida competed against Canada's Isabelle Weidemann and the Netherland's Irene Schouten.

Weidemann tried to prepare herself as much as possible in the lead-up to the race.

"The ice is a little bit different than what we are used to in Calgary," she said. Coming into it, she "knew the ice wasn't going to be forgiving."

Ahead of the first competition, Messer, who spent nearly 40 years curating the ice at the Calgary Olympic Stadium (one of the two fastest speedskating venues in the world) was expecting to win skaters over.

"I wouldn't say I know everything, but I know enough," he said of his ice-making abilities.

Beijing organizers switched from using ammonia to carbon dioxide refrigerants for the new venue's surface. The change is the same as planting upwards of 1.2 million trees, according to organizers.

"We have to go back to the natural refrigerants that are not going to destroy this planet," Messer said. "We have to get away from all the others that have been used (until now), so it's a great step in that direction."

The new cooling technique was completely new to China.

Messer said the technology is similar to how carbon dioxide is used in a household fire extinguisher.

Track staff place lane markers on the ice before the first speedskating event of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Sarah Stier/Getty Images hide caption

Track staff place lane markers on the ice before the first speedskating event of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

"The CO2 gas is compressed and held at high pressure, and when you release that pressure, the nozzle of the fire extinguisher gets cold," he explained. "That's basically what we are doing here."

Technicians compress the carbon dioxide, store it, then push the gas through pipes in the floor. The gas expands and takes the heat out of the Oval's floor, making it cold enough to form ice. But key to getting the perfect ice is controlling the speed this gas flows out of the pipes, Messer said.

"When you change temperatures, (the gas) comes in a hurry so we also have to look at how far it might overshoot, and if it gets colder than we need it to," he said.

On Saturday, it seemed the ice worked out for the three medalists.

Ultimately, Lollobrigida won silver in her race and Weidemann bronze. Schouten took gold and set a new Olympic record of 3:56:93.

"Today was perfect, the timing was perfect," Lollobrigida said. The ice allowed for major speed, she added. She's looking forward to her next turn around the Oval.

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Speedskaters at the Winter Olympics are adapting to a new venue and its special ice - NPR

Chances are youve been wondering why athletes are given cuddly pandas on the podium instead of medals at Beijing 2022.

At the Tokyo Summer Olympics we became accustomed to the medals being dished out inside the stadium albeit with athletes having to put medals around their own necks due to Covid risks but that isnt happening in Beijing.

Instead, medallists have received a fluffy mascot on the podium, as modelled by New Zealands snowboard sensation Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in the above video.

Beijing 2022

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You cant say Winter Olympic medallists dont get their time in the limelight. They typically enjoy not one but two ceremonies: a victory ceremony and a medal ceremony.

The victory ceremony follows shortly after the event on a podium, with athletes in Beijing receiving a cuddly panda and hand-knitted bouquets which imitate six real flowers: roses, Chinese roses, lilies of the valley, hydrangeas, laurel, and olive branches.

The medal ceremony takes place later at a special plaza where, as the name suggests, athletes will receive their gold, silver and bronze medals. Like Tokyo, athletes will have to put on their own medals due to coronavirus risks.

While China has strict Covid restrictions, including widespread use of masks when not mixing within your own team bubble, the victory ceremony, and a later medal ceremony, has long been a staple of the Winter Olympics.

The smiley and chubby panda is wrapped in a sheet of ice to shield them from the elements. Theyve also been immortalised in key chains, pillows and other merchandise.

China have had to panic order truckloads more of the mascot after stocks plunged in a country gripped by Olympic fever.

"I almost cried seeing the mascot," Czech ice dancer Natalie Taschlerova told the Global Times before the Games. Steady on, Natalie, thats going overboard

- - -

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Winter Olympics 2022 Why are athletes given pandas not medals on the podium? Is it because of Covid? - Eurosport COM

Meet the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating team and who we expect to medal

American Nathan Chen is a gold medal favorite. Here is how the rest of the U.S. Figure Skating team stacks up.

Michelle Hanks, USA TODAY

BEIJING Madison Chock and Evan Bates lingered in the mixed zone after speaking with reporters Monday, watching on a nearby TV screen as Karen Chen took the ice.

"Yes!" Chock whispered as Chen landed one jump. Bates wrapped her in a hug after another. As Chen froze at the end of her long program, overwhelmed by emotion, the two veteran ice dancers clapped from the mixed zone.

The silver medal was officially theirs.

On a rollercoaster final day of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, it was Chock, Bates and later Chen who sealed the deal on the Americans' silver medal the best performance in the short history of the team event. The U.S. previously won bronze in both 2014 and 2018.

"We've been lucky enough to sit in the box at every one of those events. And this year, knowing that we'd get the chance to participate, was a big deal to us," Bates said.

"(We knew) that we have an opportunity to inspire the next generation of American skaters, with what we do here. Because let's be honest (there are) so many new eyes, so many new viewers to our sport at this event. That's what makes it so unique."

MORE: U.S. figure skater Vincent Zhou tests positive for COVID

BEIJING TEXT UPDATES: Get behind-the-scenes access to the Winter Olympics!

NEVER MISS A MOMENT: Subscribe to our Olympics newsletter to follow the gold chase

The Russian Olympic Committee, which entered as the favorite, won gold in the team event in dominant fashion, while Japan took the bronze.

For the Americans, a team silver medal is about as strong a result as could have reasonably expected even if they might have had an outside chance at goldjust a few days earlier.Fueled in part by Nathan Chen's brilliant short program, they led the team standings after Day 1 of competition.

By Day 3, however, the Russians had pulled away and the U.S. found itself deadlocked with Japan in second, with just two more events to go: The free dance and women's long program.

As the captains of the U.S. team, Chock and Bates admitted they knew the stakes when they took the ice in the penultimate event of the competition.

"We were very aware of what was going on. We were in the team box watching all of the events," Chock said. "But that doesnt change what we do when we get on the ice."

Chock and Bates' long program has an outer space theme, with Chock portraying an alien and Bates an astronaut, set to music from Daft Punk. And, at a time when they needed it most, they delivered a season-best performance, winning the event and re-constructing their lead on Japan.

The ice dance victory also easedthe pressure a bit for Chen, who redeemed herself after falling in the short program the previous day.

"Weirdly, I felt quite calm," Chen said."Its definitely hard to just come back after a hard skate, but for some reason I just felt very determined and very focused on what my job is. And I delivered just that."

All told, nine of the 16 American skaters competing individually at the Beijing Games also contributed in the team event, and will receive silver medals.

All but one of them were able to celebrate the achievement on the ice Monday; Vincent Zhou was notably absent after testing positive for COVID-19. It is unclear if he will be able to compete in the men's short program, which will take place Tuesday.

"Team USA has always been strong, but certainly this group of athletes weve grown up together," ice dancer Madison Hubbell said. "So to come together in a different way, a more supportive way and especially with our training mates Madison and Evan, to be able to accomplish this together has been really touching. And I know that its something that will be one of our highlights in our career."

A reporter asked Bates if, given the Americans' hot start, the silver medal felt bittersweet somehow like a missed opportunity to possibly upset the Russians. He said no.

"We're celebrating silver," Bates said. "Winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games is an incredible achievement, and the fact that we all get a silver medal, the whole team -- I'm so happy. I'm so happy."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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US figure skating team wins silver medal after clutch performance by Madison Chock and Evan Bates - USA TODAY

No B-roll jokes, pleasehave some respect. Captured in NBC footage Vultures photo team called never-ending and so sad, a camera took a tumble down a snowy slope at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 3. Small parts of the camera can be seen flying off from the sheer force of her flips and spins down the icy hill. After several rows of people failed to notice the frankly impressive display of athleticism behind them, a photographer at the bottom of the slope eventually reached out to collect the cameras motionless body. We dont know for sure yet whether she survived (Sony does have a camera center at the Olympics for repairs), but Vulture has asked a spokesperson for NBC Olympics to look into this sad incident.

Photography site PetaPixel identified the fallen camera as a Sony kit worth up to $8,700. Beyond that, its still unclear who exactly she was and why she fell. Was she dreaming of becoming an Olympic gymnast? Upset that she didnt book Rihannas maternity shoot? Tired of always focusing but never being the focus? All we know is that she didnt deserve this. If this feels oddly familiar, she wasnt the first to fall at an event like this: Vinko Bogataj became famous when he suffered the agony of defeat during a failed ski jump in 1970. It didnt end his career, and were hoping the same applies this time, too.

The rest is here:

Who Was That Camera Falling Down a Ski Slope at the Winter Olympics? - Vulture

BEIJING The cracks are starting to form.

First, there were stories of athletes missing the Olympics entirely because of COVID tests failed before they ever got onto a plane. Next, there were the athletes who tested positive while in China, including Team USA flag bearer Elana Meyers Taylor. Now, the positive tests that could only have been contracted in-country are coming, like the one thats flagged Team USA figure skater Vincent Zhou.

And now, in one of the most bizarre scenes yet at these COVID-affected games, two hockey teams took the ice Monday afternoon Beijing time, both fully masked.

Canadas women walloped their Russian counterparts 6-1, but that wasnt the story of this preliminary round game. The game was delayed more than an hour because Canada had not received Russias COVID report and did not want to take the ice until that was in hand, according to a Toronto Sun report. The Russian hockey team had a recent outbreak of COVID, and several players spent time in isolation before being cleared.

When the teams did take the ice, they did so wearing KN95 masks. The IOC apparently mandated the masks for safety and security reasons. By the third period, Russia had removed its masks, but Canada scored twice anyway.

When Canda and Russia took the ice, playes from both teams sported masks. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The results came in and they were negative, and they said they were going to take their masks off, Team Canadas Natalie Spooner said. We figured we had them on for two periods, so why not keep being extra safe for one period?

This is probably a cool story in the long run, Spooner said. We can say we were at the COVID Olympics and we even wore a mask in a game.

The chaos surrounding the start of the game, as well as the eligibility of the players within it, runs throughout these entire Olympics. Every individual within Beijings closed loop is tested every day, every individual is one positive test from ending up in an isolation facility and obliterating their Olympic dreams and there is no recourse, no oversight, no hope other than to pray to return a negative test as quickly as possible.

Story continues

Even that isnt a guarantee of freedom, as Taylor found; she tested positive again after testing negative and being almost out of isolation. (Shes since cleared protocols and has returned to the team.)

Every Olympics is rife with conspiracy theory; athletes and nations complaining that the judges and the hosts are biased against them is its own Olympic sport. The problem for these Games is that Beijing is operating under an entirely new system the idea of stomping out COVID entirely, not containing it. The most important function of the Games is to keep the Games running, no matter what the cost to individuals, teams or nations.

COVID is the backstory of these entire Olympics. A few more incidents like Mondays hockey game, however, and it will become the main story.

Continued here:

Olympics: Is masked hockey a sign of whats to come in Beijing? - Yahoo Sports

Olympic lingo: Olympians teach you to talk like a skier and snowboarder

Steezy. Ripping. Shredding. Team USA ski and snowboard Olympians teach you the lingo you need to know to sound like a pro.

Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing have begun. How are athletes from Vermont faring in this year's Winter Games?

See below for running tally of results.Please note,this file will be updated regularly during the three weeks of theOlympics.

More: How to watch Vermonters compete at the Olympics: Date, time, stream

More: Get to know Vermont's Olympians Follow the athletes on social media

Note: Below is a list of Olympic athletes who are Vermont residents and natives and others with ties to the Green Mountain State.

Date: Feb. 12

Date: Feb. 6

Date:Feb. 8

Date:Feb. 13

Date: Feb. 6 and

Get to know Vermont's Olympians: Here's how to follow the athletes on social media

Feb. 5: Finished in sixth place in the15-kilometerskiathlon. Norway'sTherese Johaug won gold.

Date: Feb. 8

Date: Feb. 10

Date: Feb. 12

Date: Feb. 16

Date: Feb. 20

Feb. 5: Part of team with Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan andPaul Schommer who finished seventh, the U.S.'s best-ever Olympicfinish in the mixed relay. They finished the relay in 1:08:58.3.

Feb. 5: Part of team with Sean Doherty, Clare Egan andPaul Schommer who finished seventh, the U.S.'s best-ever Olympicfinish in the mixed relay.They finished the relay in 1:08:58.3.

Date: Feb. 7

Date: Feb. 9

Date: Feb. 14

Date: Feb. 13

Meet this Vermont skier: Vermonter Megan Nick's journey from gymnast to U.S. Olympian

Date: Feb. 8

Date: Feb. 6

Feb. 6: The 22-year-old who lives and trains in Killington finished seventh overall.

Date: Feb. 18

Date: Feb. 6/7

Date: Feb. 15

GROUP PLAY

Feb. 3: 5-2 loss to United States

Feb. 5: 11-1 loss toCanada

Feb. 7 vs. Switzerland, 8:10 a.m.

Feb. 8 vs. ROC, 8:10 a.m.

Feb. 5: Finished in 53rdin the15-kilometerskiathlon.

Date: Feb. 8

GROUP PLAY

Feb. 3: 3-1 win over China

Feb. 53-1 win overSweden

Feb. 7 vs. Denmark 3:40 a.m.

Feb. 8 vs. Japan, 3:40 a.m.

Date: Feb. 20

Date: Feb. 13

Date: Feb. 6/7

Date:Feb. 8

Climate change: Nordic skiers and biathletes flag the dangers of manmade snow

Date: Feb. 5

Feb. 6: The University of Vermont product finished 11th (1:20:10.0), the best American male finish in an Olympic XC race since 1976.

Date: Feb. 8

Date:Feb. 6/7

Date:Feb. 9

Date:Feb. 10

Date:Feb. 14

Date:Feb. 17

Contact Alex Abrami ataabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter:@aabrami5.

Contact Jacob RousseauatJRousseau@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter:@ByJacobRousseau

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How Vermonters fared at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing - BurlingtonFreePress.com

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing has barely begun and people are already looking four years down the road.

The Winter Olympicsin Beijing has barely begun following Friday's Opening Ceremony. And yet, people online are already asking an important question.

Where is the next Winter Olympics being held? The question was one of the top searches on Google Friday.

During the Opening Ceremony, the current host country always marches into the stadium last. But in a recent move, the International Olympic Committee decided to have the next host march right before that.

In this case, it's Italy. Milano Cortina will host the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Before that, of course, will come the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. That will be followed by the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, which last hosted in 1984.

A host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics is yet to be determined, but Salt Lake City is reportedly in the running. It hosted the 2002 Winter Games.

Brisbane, Australia, will host the 2032 Summer Olympics.

When did the Olympics move to every two years?

From 1924 through 1992, the Winter and Summer Olympics were the same year. The '92 Winter Games were celebrated in Albertville, France, followed by the Summer Games in Barcelona.

Since 1994, an Olympics has been held every two years. The '94 Winter Olympics took place in Lillehammer, Norway, followed by the Summer Games in 1996 in Atlanta. Nagano, Japan, was next in 1998 with the Winter Games. That pattern was broken by the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Beijing Winter Games open on Friday, just six months after Tokyo closed. They'll be followed by the Summer Olympics in 2024 in Paris. Here's a breakdown of why things have unfolded as they have.

Why were the Olympics moved to every two years?

Olympic historian Bill Mallon suggests the International Olympic Committee was looking for more revenue. The IOC, he says, thought they could get more sponsorship money by spreading the Games out more.

Every two years also kept the Olympics in the public eye, and the move dovetailed with the increasing commercialization and professionalization of the Games. The trend was underlined when, for the first time, professional basketball players from the NBA the American Dream Team were the marquee stars in Barcelona.

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People are already wondering where the 2026 Winter Olympics will be - 11Alive.com WXIA

Update: Team USAs Mikaela Shiffrin fell during her first run of the giant slalom. She still has four other events to medal at the 2022 Winter Games.

Thanks to brutal conditions in the Yanqing area northwest of Beijing including winds over 40 MPH, youll see two skiing events in one evening tonight as part of the 2022 Winter Olympics coverage.

Two medals will be awarded in alpine skiing; one for the mens downhill, and the other for the womens giant slalom. In skiing the downhill is raced just once, whereas the giant slalom is two runs, so the mens downhill will be the middle event between the two races for the women.

The womens giant slalom will run their first heat on Sunday, February 6th at 8:30 p.m. ET, then the men will take over at 11:00 p.m. ET to award the downhill championship, followed by the second heat for the women at 1:30 a.m. ET Monday morning.

The mens downhill will take place on The Rock, a new venue no skiers had ever seen before last week thanks to Covid-19. The two-mile long course consists only of man-made snow, and expects to be one of the fastest runs in Olympic history. A practice run scheduled for Saturday was also canceled.

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Olympics mens downhill: Race moved to Sunday night thanks to high winds, womens giant slalom time change - DraftKings Nation

Diplomatic boycotts of the 2022 Winter Olympics may take away some of the conventional spirit and camaraderie of the games, but the international celebration remains a platform for nations to write their athletic histories.

Two countries will make their Winter Olympic debuts while several others will look to eclipse medal records.

Heres a guide to how many countries will participate in the Winter Olympics and which ones will make diplomatic boycotts in 2022.

There are 84 countries participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Individual National Olympic Committees (NOCs) help organize each countrys proposal for recognition before the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

There are a total of 206 NOCs, which are devised by the IOC and the International Sport Federation. These two organizations are the sole authorities who come together to recognize NOCs for the official summer and winter games.

Both Haiti and Peru are new to the Winter Olympics in 2022. Both countries will be represented by a single person, both, coincidently, in Alpine skiing.

Richardson Viano is with Haiti and Ornella Oettl Reyes is with Peru.

North Korea is the lone country that participated in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang that will not be returning to compete this year.

North Korea was suspended from Beijing 2022 because of its decision to not attend the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. The IOC claims that North Korea breached the Olympic charter, failing to fulfill one of the fundamental duties and obligations of a NOC.

U.S. diplomatic officials will not be participating in the fanfare of the games, according to the White House. That means government leaders will not travel to Beijing for the games. The diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics, which includes President Joe Biden, stems from the White House calling out China for human rights abuses.

Canada, Australia and Japan have joined the United States in announcing a diplomatic boycott during the games, as have Lithuania and the United Kingdom.

Additionally, New Zealand officials and athletes will not be attending for a range of factors but primarily due to COVID-19 concerns.

Yes, but its been more than 40 years since it did so. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter called a Summer Olympics boycott in Moscow in response to the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan.

In that case, Carter prohibited officials and athletes from attending the Moscow Games. Unlike 1980, Team USA will have athletes in Beijing.

South Korea is not suspended from competition, nor is the country supporting the United States diplomatic boycott. South Korea will send officials, claiming a dependence on China in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Russia will not technically participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics because of the two-year ban they received from the World Anti-Doping Agency the agency that monitors the fight against drugs in Olympic competitions. However, Russian athletes will participate under the ostensibly neutral flag of the Russian Olympic Committee, as they did during the PyeongChang 2018 games. They have not competed under the Russian flag since Rio 2016.

The ROC, or Russian Olympic Committee, will be competing in Beijing. They are prohibited from wearing the Russian flag on their attire and if their uniforms do say Russia, they have to include the phrase neutral athlete as well. If the athlete wins, the Russian national anthem will not be played, but rather some other song not associated with Russia.

For instance, during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when Vitalina Batsarashkina won an event for the ROC, music was played from Tchaikovskys Piano Concerto No. 1.

Norway has the most medals in Winter Olympic history, including 132 gold, 125 silver, and 11 bronze, which comes to a total of 368 medals in the 23 Winter Games they have participated in.

Coming in at second and third are the United States with 305 medals and Germany with 240, where the US participated in all 23 games and Germany only the last 12.

There are several countries that have participated in the games that have yet to receive a gold medal, including Latvia, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, North Korea, and Denmark.

The country to go the longest without winning a Winter Olympic gold medal is Romania. They have participated in 21 Winter Olympic games since 1924.

Italy will host the Milano Cortina Olympics in 2026.

Paris is the next Summer Olympic host city, with France playing the role of host nation for 2024.

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How Many Nations Will Compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics? - NBC Sports Chicago