The Beijing Winter Olympics are almost underway, and delegations from the 90 participating countries are starting to make their way into the Chinese capital.
King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel and Prince Carl Philip all jumped on a virtual meeting to wish good luck to both the Olympic and the Paralympic athletes competing.Â
The royals had initially planned to attend the meeting in person, but, given the sharp rise in Omicron cases in Sweden, and also given that the Crown Princess and Prince Daniel are still in quarantine, the Court decided to move the meeting online.Â
During the video call, the royals chatted with members of the Swedish Olympic Committee and Parasport Sweden – the Swedish association of Paralympians.Â
They were told about the hopes and dreams of both delegations going into the Games and how the pandemic is affecting the event.Â
Mainly, the biggest impact comes from the total absence of public in the stands, after Beijing decided to completely close all events to outside spectators due to health safety concerns.
Over the past few days, a memo also circulated among participating athletes reminding them that any infraction of the Olympic code and bad mouthing of the Chinese government will be severely punished, as well as any flaunting of COVID-related restrictions.Â
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be underway from the 4th to the 20th of February, while the Paralympic Games will run from the 4th to the 13th of March.
The majority of the Swedish Royal Family has tested positive for the virus at some point, so they seemed very sympathetic about all the additional screenings required for the athletes – incoming delegations will have to undergo a two-week quarantine period before they will be allowed to compete in the Games, with regular testing.
