After Beijing, Canadian athletes relish a non-COVID Winter Olympics in Italy

Canadian speedskater Ivanie Blondin recalled staring out the window from her floor in the athletes’ village during the 2022 Olympic Games “because there was nothing else to do.”

Beijing’s Winter Games were held in a “closed loop” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Beijing’s organizing committee didn’t sell tickets to the public for events, but selected several Chinese spectators under strict pandemic prevention measures to enter venues.

Constant testing and masking, restricted movement and limited human interaction were part of the athlete experience. 

There was also the spectre of testing positive, getting sent to a dreaded “quarantine hotel” to await a negative test, and not being able to compete.

“We would sit there and do our nails and then just people watch,” said Blondin, who earned a silver medal in women’s mass start and helped Canada to gold in team pursuit in Beijing.

“I remember there was the ambulance that came in one day, and I’m like, ‘Who are they getting this time?’ They went to the Polish building across the road. 

“The sirens are on, the ambulance comes in, they come out of their ambulance in hazmat suits and then it’s the (Natalia) Maliszewska, Polish skater, that had a false positive and she’s standing there with her face mask on and they’re spraying her down with God knows what and then they put her in the ambulance and they just whisk her away.”

Maliszewska wasn’t allowed to race short track’s 500 metres in Beijing after testing positive, then negative, and then positive again for COVID-19. 

A total of 98 athletes tested positive for the virus in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee said the day after the closing ceremonies.

“It’s just so bizarre and such a surreal experience,” Blondin said. “Not necessarily a positive experience for all of us because it was just like you were on lockdown. There were some fun moments, but it was stressful.”

Among the just over 200 Canadian athletes bound for the 2026 Winter Olympics, about 90 are veterans of the 2022 edition. 

“We don’t totally realize how deep that stress was, trying to perform, trying to meet your own expectations, your country’s expectations, and then layering COVID in, so I’m hoping that it’s going to be a breeze for those athletes that have had that experience,” said Canadian team chef de mission Jennifer Heil.

A return to a more festive atmosphere in 2026 in Milan and Cortina, Italy, was a motivator for athletes who represented Canada in Beijing, and also for those who remember what it was like wearing the Maple Leaf in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

A look at some Canadian athletes’ thoughts on a return to “normal” in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening Feb. 6: 

Ski cross racer Marielle Thompson: “The idea of competing again at a normal Games is really exciting. Looking back at Sochi and then Pyeongchang, just the atmosphere of the people outside of the village, actually being able to talk to people, make some new friends from different countries, it was all really special and a big part of my Olympic Games. I was quite sad for my teammates, actually, that didn’t get that.”

Freestyle halfpipe skier Cassie Sharpe: I’m very grateful to be able to have my daughter and my mother and my husband and my entire family coming out to visit, to see it and be a part of it. However, when you’re competing, and you see that big crowd, versus in China when there wasn’t that crowd, it does change the pressures and the anxieties and the energy.”

Ski jumper Abigail Strate: “I’ve been excited for a non-COVID Games since I was in the last Games. Beijing was my first Olympics, so everything was still very new, very cool. It doesn’t really matter how Italy goes. It’s already going to be like a new experience on its own. Very exciting for my family to come. Excited and nervous, I hope that they can manage themselves and I can get my job done, but it’ll be really cool to have some familiar faces cheering in the crowd.”

Moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury: “The Beijing Olympics were totally different, different vibe, different preparation for the Games, except the skiing part. I’m very excited because my family is going to be there. For the first time, my girlfriend, my son, my brother and sister will be there. At my first two Olympic Games, only my parents were there and some family members. To have the whole family, it’s going to be special and super-motivating to obviously have a good performance.”

Speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen: “I’m really excited to have normal Games. I’m lucky that I’ve experienced also the Pyeongchang Olympics, which was like a true Olympic experience. The Beijing Olympics was not. We have to be honest.”

Halfpipe freestyle skier Brendan Mackay: “It’s very exciting to be going to an Olympics where hopefully I’ll be able to compete in front of a lot of friends and family because I didn’t have that opportunity in Beijing. All the COVID restrictions around Beijing made it a lot, maybe I’d say kind of less fun and less laid back. We weren’t socializing very much, and also there was obviously the pressure of competition.”

Speedskater Laurent Dubreuil: “For sure, having people in the stands at the Olympics is special, and I’ve missed it, but I think I was one of the athletes who was able to really put away the distraction of the last Games. Everybody says it was not fun. I had fun the last time. The Olympics is always special, but to me, it could have been in somebody’s basement with nobody watching, I would still be there. I’m there for the performance.”

Halfpipe freestyle skier Rachel Karker: “Everything was so stressful leading in that I was just so exhausted once we were done. When I was thinking about keeping going for another four years, it really was a lot to think about, but the idea of going to a Games where none of that extra stress was in place was definitely a huge motivator.”

Alpine skier Valerie Grenier: “Beijing didn’t feel like a normal Games with COVID and everything. I also only did one event because I was coming back from injury. This time, at least, I feel good, I’m all recovered from all my injuries. I’m going to be doing multiple events. The fact that I can stay the whole time and really enjoy the Games, it’s all about the camaraderie.”

— With files from Gregory Strong.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2026.