orangeman

I can't say too much right now, but there are things happening through various businesses and organizations to get people in the stands, including non-Chinese spectators. You have to be in Beijing, and not leave Beijing, as well as other restrictions, but there is no shortage of interest. Things can change, especially with this new case in the city, but having a diverse audience seems to be one of their priorities.

Beijing has its first reported case of Omicron, specifically in the district I live in (Haidian). https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/beijing-covid-19-first-local-omicron-case-china-outbreaks-2437546 Schools will go online this week (and the next if they're still not on Lunar New Year break). The LNY break will also be extended to cover the whole Olympics. Haidian is in the western part of the city, and will host several events like short track, figure skating, some of the hockey matches and big air competitions. Beijing instituted a rule in December that if you visited any city or area that ends up having a case in the last 14 days you would not be allowed to re-enter the capital. If you already returned, you must self-quarantine immediately at home. I had some friends that were forced to do that after returning from Xi'an, which has been on lockdown for several weeks now. I went shopping to stock up today and hope we don't end up like Xi'an or the other cities currently on lockdown. Right now it's just the one case, so fingers crossed it won't get worse.

Yeah, I know lots of people, mostly Americans and Brits, who only care about snowboard (freestyle) when it comes to the Winter Olympics. It very much attracts lots of casual viewers who probably wouldn't be interested in the WOG otherwise. I'm doing my part, trying to ease them into freestyle skiing since it's mostly the same thing. And, of course, curling.

I agree that the field is deep. Here is my projection just for fun: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Fair enough, but lots of people are underestimating Jennifer Jones, the only female rink to go undefeated at the Olympics. Not to mention Kaitlyn Lawes who won gold in mixed doubles in 2018.

I thought they would choose Morris/Homan because they both have the experience of going to the Olympics and Morris is of course half of the defending Olympic gold medalist team. As others have said, any pick would have been controversial, and the reality is any one of the teams in the running could win gold. I'm personally not sure if Homan is a BIG game performer, but we'll find out.

Interesting. When I came to China in October 2020 Beijing just opened up direct flights and Toronto was one of them (lucky for me). There were only a couple of other cities at the time, but I know Tokyo was not one of them. Just one or two in Europe, and maybe HK, but not any in the US. HK being an approved hub is interesting because they have the same quarantine rules as the Mainland, in that you have to do minimum 2 weeks in a government approved quarantine hotel (might be up to 3 weeks now). AFAIK, HK is not allowing layover flights either, so using that as your entry into Beijing would be unfeasible for Olympians. It is still very hard to find flights in and out of China, especially Beijing, and they are incredibly expensive. I would imagine most NOCs would charter flights, that would make more sense.

Wow, great job. Nitpicking, but I disagree about Canada's chances at curling. I know our rinks dropped the ball in 2018 and the rest of the world is catching up, but I don't see Jennifer Jones missing the podium. She is the only female skip to go undefeated at the Olympics (2014), and her third is the defending champ in the mixed event from 2018. They're both big game performers. Mixed doubles, who knows especially since Canada had to cancel their trials and the team will just be selected. Everything else looks good for Canada, although I might argue freestyle and snowboarding are underrepresented. But those sports can be unpredictable, especially this year. I'd be very happy with those speed skating results, both long and short track (though I hope Canada comes through in the new mixed relay). At the end of the day, the total medals are realistic, though I'd hope for more golds. Great job! Better than the official outlets.

A revived speed skating team, new events and hopefully a return to the podium in curling could maintain Canada's count from 2018. The thing is, Canada tends to be good at things that are unpredictable like freestyle, snowboard and short track. One slip spells disaster in those events. Add to that uncertain training and competitive seasons the last 2 years and who knows. It could turn out great, it could be terrible. Prediction: Canada doesn't win a figure skating medal for the first time since 1980.

I'm in Beijing now, 15 minutes from the hockey venue. I took this job a few years ago with visions of seeing Team Canada play. Now....I'll be lucky if I get to see a bobsled session. I've been waiting years for this moment, for the whole Olympics to be in the city I'm living in, and it's just poof, gone. I'll watch it in my living room like I could have done from anywhere in the world. I know this might be controversial, but screw covid.

I'm not too familiar with mixed curling, but I'd imagine Morris/Homan are the favourites here. They were both in Pyeongchang and Morris is a double Olympic gold medalist (in mens and mixed doubles). While Homan flamed out in Korea, she's won multiple national and world medals. I think Einarson and Jacobs will challenge them, though. But who knows, this is a very unpredictable event that isn't really competed by most of these curlers. I really look forward to watching over the holidays.

Gotta love throwing stones with a cigarette in his mouth. I can understand why this wasn't an Olympic sport until the 90s now.

Congrats to for making it in the doubles curling. Maybe all the other curling teams will suddenly fall down on the final stone and Australia will sneak in for the win!

Following the Roar of the Rings, or whatever it's called now, the Tim Hortons because it's Canada and curling so of course it's Tim Hortons Curling Trials. Just hoping Canada can redeem itself from the embarrassment of Pyeongchang. For that reason, I'm rooting for any rink that has an Olympic gold medal in their pocket: Jones on the women's side and Jacobs or Gushue on the men's. They all look to make the playoffs now. I don't want to root against anyone, but I watched Koe in person at the semi-finals in 2018 and he looked completely confused. Obviously he does have great international performances under his belt, and 4th at the Olympics isn't anything to sneeze at. I look forward to hopefully seeing some curling live here in Beijing this February, but the Ice Cube is limited to 2000 spectators, so I doubt a mere mortal like me will be able to get tickets. Then again it's curling, but China is not terrible so we'll see.

Jennifer Abel announces retirement. https://www.tsn.ca/canadian-diver-jennifer-abel-announces-retirement-1.1725119

Canada's hockey jerseys:

Looks cool. I always like the simple designs.

Canada unveils its hockey jerseys. https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada-unveils-new-men-s-women-s-olympic-and-paralympic-hockey-jerseys-1.1725406

Can't believe Canada beat Mexico in World Cup qualifying. Now Canada sits atop of the pool with 6 more games to go in the new year. Looking good, but not counting any eggs yet.

I appreciate it, and we will see. The reality is, sponsors get a certain amount of tickets and with the lower capacity that basically takes care of that. I fear that the announcement earlier that residents could attend was just PR, and in reality it'll just be a chosen few from the elite. Just an example here: I recently went to the newly opened Universal Studios here in Beijing (awesome, btw!). All VIP and fast track passes have been bought up for the next 6 months, as far as it goes. Every day it moves, the next day in 6 months is sold out before it hits the app. It's the same for travel tickets and special event tickets here all the time. I actually like living here non-covid times, but this is one of the most frustrating things. I thought the Olympics would be different since it's overseen by an international organization. We'll see.

The Ice Cube (formerly Water Cube) where curling will take place will only be at 20% capacity, or 1000 spectators. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/beijings-ice-cube-capacity-capped-20-covid-19-measure-2021-11-11/ We can expect the rest of the indoor venues to be the same, I guess. Having lived in Beijing during Covid this doesn't make much sense to me because everything here is usually business as usual, except with masks and health code. I don't know why for the Olympics in particular we suddenly have to reduce capacity. It's disappointing because, as with everything in China, it was already going to be hard to get tickets because everything is always snatched up by large companies right away and you basically have to be a local to understand how to get them (i.e. air, train and sporting events). Now we know it'll be impossible. Very disappointing because a big part of the reason I stayed here this year was for the Olympics. Now we're sure we won't be able to attend, and there will be no atmosphere, we'll just watch at home like I could have done anywhere. I live so close to most of the Beijing venues, I had dreams of scooter over to catch a hockey game before hopping to catch some speed skating. Very sad now. Having said that, Beijing is experiencing a "mild" outbreak again so things are getting crazy. Probably due to the Olympics, a new policy is going into effect tomorrow where you cannot enter Beijing if you've been anywhere that has even 1 case in the last 14 days. You also cannot go to any city with a land border or a port (i.e. Shanghai or Guangzhou). https://www.reuters.com/world/china/beijing-city-tightens-covid-guidance-travel-chinese-areas-with-overland-ports-2021-11-14/ So basically we are locked into Beijing until after the Olympics at least. Now I know how the residents of Tokyo felt. You suffer due to hosting, but you get nothing in return. Even as a huge Olympic fan, it stings. It probably stings more as a fan.

Most international or "international" schools in China have a state-sanctioned VPN worked into their campus wifi. It's based in HK and still blocks some sensitive materials, but it's fine for all social media and almost everything you'd use everyday. The weird thing is, the one I use blocks the CBC, but not any American news sites I've tried. Anyway, I'd imagine the Olympic Village will have something similar and then NOCs will provide VPNs for athletes as well. As a side note: This site is blocked for me in China without a VPN. I guess that makes it cool.

The Ice Cube (formerly Water Cube) where curling will take place will only be at 20% capacity, or 1000 spectators. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/beijings-ice-cube-capacity-capped-20-covid-19-measure-2021-11-11/ We can expect the rest of the indoor venues to be the same, I guess. Having lived in Beijing during Covid this doesn't make much sense to me because everything here is usually business as usual, except with masks and health code. I don't know why for the Olympics in particular we suddenly have to reduce capacity. It's disappointing because, as with everything in China, it was already going to be hard to get tickets because everything is always snatched up by large companies right away and you basically have to be a local to understand how to get them (i.e. air, train and sporting events). Now we know it'll be impossible. Very disappointing because a big part of the reason I stayed here this year was for the Olympics. Now we're sure we won't be able to attend, and there will be no atmosphere, we'll just watch at home like I could have done anywhere. I live so close to most of the Beijing venues, I had dreams of scootering over to catch a hockey game before hopping to catch some speed skating. Very sad now. Having said that, Beijing is experiencing a "mild" outbreak again so things are getting crazy. Probably due to the Olympics, a new policy is going into effect tomorrow where you cannot enter Beijing if you've been anywhere that has even 1 case in the last 14 days. You also cannot go to any city with a land border or a port (i.e. Shanghai or Guangzhou). So basically we are locked into Beijing until after the Olympics at least. Now I know how the residents of Tokyo felt. You suffer due to hosting, but you get nothing in return. Even as a huge Olympic fan, it stings. It probably stings more as a fan.