Winter Olympics

Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

The Winter Olympic Games in Beijing began on February 4th, 2022 and with the surge of COVID-19 cases due to the new Omnicron variant, the host nation, China, was under a lot of scrutiny. The world expected China to ensure the safety of the participating athletes as well as of its own population.Thankfully, many international sporting events from the Tokyo Olympics to the recent Australian Open have demonstrated the possibility of organizing events within health guidelines.  Each of these events showed a gradual implementation of COVID security protocols, but also demonstrated that it is now possible to host major events with full stadiums and fewer restrictions. To analyze  the Olympics’ organization and health protocols, we must take a look at how far the international sporting community has come in recent times, and determine if these Games mark another step towards a return to normalcy or if some states must still impose tough health protocols to protect its population. 

As one of the many events postponed from the 2020 summer, the Tokyo Summer Olympics was a major test in organization for Japan. In a move that now seems impossible, COVID-19 vaccinations were not mandatory for participating athletes. Instead, the organizing committee opted for mass testing. All athletes and personnel had to provide 2 negative COVID-19 tests 72 hours before their arrival in Japan in addition to daily testing while residing in the Olympic Village. Any positive case would be isolated. Physical distancing was enforced and temperature checks were performed at the entrance of every event. Athletes, officials and other travellers from countries considered to be at a greater risk of COVID-19 would be tested more thoroughly, every day for the first seven days since their arrival and they would be kept more isolated, with physical interactions reduced to the bare minimum.  The biggest change to the usual setting of the Olympic Games was the lack of spectators. All spectators were banned from all events during the Tokyo Olympics to reduce the risk of infection. However, the results suggested that the rules put in place were ineffective. The Greek artistic swimming team withdrew from the competition after six of the athletes tested positive for COVID-19. Overall, in the Olympic village, 353 cases were reported, with a daily high of 31 cases on August 5th.  At the same time, in the general population, Japan experienced a massive outbreak in cases, with 5,042 cases reported on August 5th, a few days before the end of the Games. The country’s capital was under a state of emergency and vaccination was not yet widespread, increasing the risk for more massive outbreaks of COVID-19. However, the Japanese Prime Minister Yosihide Suga claimed that there was no link between the Olympics and this spike in Covid cases. Though possibly shocking, the Prime Minister's claim is justified, considering the very few infractions to Olympic athletes' isolation protocols. Few athletes were caught leaving the Olympic village and none of them, allegedly, tested positive for the virus during that time. Therefore, the Games should not be considered to be directly at fault for the increased cases. However, some experts suggest people aren't complying with COVID restrictions because the sense of urgency is lost in allowing the Olympics to go ahead. All in all, as one of the first major international events to be held during the pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics gave a solid blueprint for later events and demonstrated that these kinds of sporting competitions are possible during this time. 

Separated by 6 months, the policies adopted by the organizational committee of the Australian Open, which took place from January 17th to January 31st, are also worthy of analysis. This event highlighted the recent controversies surrounding Covid vaccinations. The Australian authorities were adamant that vaccination was mandatory for all participating players. Tennis star Novak Djokovic managed to enter the country on a medical exemption but this was later revoked after review. This uncompromising stance has drawn praise from other nations but has also created its fair share of pushback from anti-vaxxers. Other rules consisted of regular antigen rapid tests for all athletes, but no PCR tests, and capping spectator capacity at 50%. All spectators also had to be vaccinated and show proof of vaccination when entering the stadium. However, player Alexander Zverev reported that athletes were not confined to the tournament grounds and could go out to eat or sightsee. This policy is in stark contrast to the Tokyo Olympics and meant that players were no longer isolated within the confines of the event. At the end of the event, there were no spikes in cases within the general population, the only reported cases came from players, who contracted the virus while they travelled to Australia on chartered flights. This is not so much due to the policies of the sporting events, but by the policies of the host nations, specifically, the vaccination rate in the general population. In 2021 in Tokyo, vaccination was still slowly underway and had not reached enough of the population. In comparison, Australia has one of the strictest vaccination and isolation (after travelling) protocols in the world. 

China has decided to adopt the strictest policy--combining the mandatory testing and banning of spectators, like the Tokyo Olympics, and mandatory vaccination, like the Australian Open. This is in spite of the fact that China has one of the world's highest vaccination rates at 86.9% and one of the best testing and tracking systems which has led to a significant drop in COVID cases after the massive outbreaks in 2020 . Though unfortunate for sports fanatics who wished to attend the Olympics in person, China's policy is reasonable and ensured that the country's health was thoroughly protected. Unfortunately, this seems to prove that a combination of the strictest guidelines makes this result possible, indicating that while successful events did take place with looser rules, it will still be some time before we can return to normal and enjoy these kinds of global events as before.