RELATED: Kerri Strug’s Heroic Vault Was 25 Years Ago. See Her Now. In a statement released on Jan. 17, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced that it would be stopping all spectator tickets sales to athletic events and ceremonies for the upcoming Games in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “In terms of the grim and complex situation of epidemic prevention and control [and] in order to protect the health and safety of Olympic personnel and spectators, we have decided to change the original plan of public ticket sales,” the committee said in the release. As a result of these changes, officials said tickets would instead be distributed to “targeted” groups, expanding on a previous decision that would only allow residents of mainland China to attend events on-site. “The organizers expect that these spectators will strictly abide by the COVID-19 countermeasures before, during, and after each event so as to help create an absolutely safe environment for the athletes,” the international committee wrote in its statement. Along with the attendance regulations, the Games’ organizers had also previously announced that all events will be held using a “closed loop.” The preventive system will surpass even the levels of security seen during the Tokyo Summer Games by limiting the number of spectators, barring international attendees, and isolating all athletes, journalists, spectators, and journalists between the three venues hosting the events by prohibiting all contact with people outside of the loop, The New York Times reports. For more news sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. The decision to ban ticket sales comes less than a month before the Games begin on Feb. 4 and less than two days after Beijing reported its first case of the highly transmissible Omicron variant on Jan. 15. This is despite extreme precautions that have been in place in recent weeks, including a travel ban into Beijing from surrounding cities where infections had been reported, the cancelation of dozens of international and domestic flights into the city, and a request from authorities that Beijing residents cancel all travel over the traditionally busy upcoming Lunar New Year celebration, The Times reports.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb But spectators aren’t the only people the committee is enforcing restrictions upon. While athletes are not required by the IOC to be vaccinated to compete, any who are unvaccinated must quarantine for 21 days upon arrival in Beijing before being allowed to enter the “closed loop.” Participants will then be tested for the virus daily. Any athlete or worker who tests positive will be prohibited from competing or taking part in events and sent to an isolation facility or designated hospital for treatment, CNN reports. RELATED: Shawn Johnson Reveals Why Winning Her Gold Medal Was “The Worst Thing”.
