Beijing 2022: Winter Games’ ‘closed loop’ impenetrable, IOC director Christophe Dubi says as Chinese capital prepares to seal itself off from outside world
- In an interview with the ‘Post’, Dubi says there is no Plan B, insisting the Winter Games’ anti-coronavirus bubble ‘will not be breached’
- The Games are to be held in three zones across Beijing, the city of Zhangjiakou and the district of Yanqing
Organisers of February’s 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing said they were confident its coronavirus prevention measures “will not be compromised”, as the Chinese capital tightens Covid-19 rules ahead of the Games.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Director Christophe Dubi told the Post there would be no transmission between those inside and outside the “closed loop”, a sealed-off area where the Games will take place across three zones.
“The measures that [Beijing’s organisers] have in place, they went to a great length for everyone,” Dubi said.
“No one in the Olympic system coming from outside … will contribute to the Games organisation as an intention for this loop to be breached, because we know how important it is for the integrity of the Games themselves.”
When asked whether the IOC had prepared a contingency plan for the closed loop, Dubi declined to answer, emphasising its plans for transport, logistics and laying “physical boundaries” across venues.
“I’m not even going there, because having seen the plan in action now, every day out there in the venues … it will not be breached,” he said.