Main thing is not to get infected with Covid-19 on the eve of the Winter Olympics

“It creates a lot of anxiety”: Ahead of the Winter Olympics, athletes are doing everything to avoid catching Covid-19

For athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, arriving at the Games with a clean bill of health is a crucial part of their preparation.
The prospect of testing positive for Covid-19 and thus missing out on the chance of competing looms over every athlete ahead of Beijing 2022, which gets underway on February 4.

Amid a plethora of Covid-19 countermeasures, athletes must record two negative tests before departing for the Games and are then subject to daily tests upon arrival.

"One positive test is going to do us in at this point," US mogul skier Hannah Soar told CNN Sport.

Staying Covid-free constitutes an important part of an athlete's preparation for the Winter Olympics.

At last year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo, 41 athletes tested positive for Covid-19, many of whom subsequently had to withdraw from competing.

Games participants who test positive will not be able to compete or continue their role in the Games, instead being sent to a hospital for treatment if they are symptomatic, or to an isolation facility if they are asymptomatic.