Olympics: NHL participation in the 2022 Olympics

[budzz]

Not sure if this has been posted but Yikes. Soo glad we didn't send our guys over there,... Here's a snip from a cbc story..

"Not enough food. Inedible meals. No training equipment. Some Olympic athletes unlucky enough to test positive for the coronavirus at the Beijing Olympics feel their quarantine conditions are making a bad situation much worse.
"My stomach hurts, I'm very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired," Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram from one of Beijing's so-called quarantine hotels.
Her problem wasn't with any symptoms of the virus. It was the food.
Vasnetsova posted a picture Thursday of what she said was "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already" — a tray with food including plain pasta, an orange sauce, charred meat on a bone, a few potatoes and no greens.
She said she mostly survived on a few pieces of pasta because it was "impossible" to eat the rest, "but today I ate all the fat they serve instead of meat because I was very hungry." She added she lost a lot of weight and "my bones are already sticking out."

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/olympic-teams-concerned-quarantine-hotels-1.6340972

 

[NotCommitted]

I was against their decision to drop out and seriously thought China would go with more sensible restrictions and protocols for the sake of good PR, but it seems I was quite wrong. Maybe they really think what they are doing is just necessary precautions, but pretty much all current scientific information seems to go against that.

 

[Shockmaster]

Not sure if this has been posted but Yikes. Soo glad we didn't send our guys over there,... Here's a snip from a cbc story..

"Not enough food. Inedible meals. No training equipment. Some Olympic athletes unlucky enough to test positive for the coronavirus at the Beijing Olympics feel their quarantine conditions are making a bad situation much worse.
"My stomach hurts, I'm very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired," Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram from one of Beijing's so-called quarantine hotels.
Her problem wasn't with any symptoms of the virus. It was the food.
Vasnetsova posted a picture Thursday of what she said was "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already" — a tray with food including plain pasta, an orange sauce, charred meat on a bone, a few potatoes and no greens.
She said she mostly survived on a few pieces of pasta because it was "impossible" to eat the rest, "but today I ate all the fat they serve instead of meat because I was very hungry." She added she lost a lot of weight and "my bones are already sticking out."

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/olympic-teams-concerned-quarantine-hotels-1.6340972

The self-righteous posters on this thread who felt the NHL had a holy obligation to attend the Olympics sure are quiet now.

 

[Namejs]

The self-righteous posters on this thread who felt the NHL had a holy obligation to attend the Olympics sure are quiet now.

Pasta with meat and potatoes for a couple of days, it's truly a genocide.

Nothing has changed regarding NHL. It was an unethical, manipulative, intellectually dishonest way of bailing out of the Olympics at the last moment just to increase their profit margins at the expense of fans, players and the spirit of the game.

We'll see how the isolation facilities work during the course of the games and whether they will be able to contain the spread of the virus to a degree that allows to finish the tournament. If that happens with no major outbreak among any of the teams during the tournament, the argument laid down here earlier stands. It has nothing to do and never had anything to do with the safety of the players.

 

[Silky Johnson]

The self-righteous posters on this thread who felt the NHL had a holy obligation to attend the Olympics sure are quiet now.

Amazing right.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

"The International Olympic Committee admitted that conditions for athletes forced to isolate owing to testing positive for coronavirus had not met expectations, after German team officials complained of limited access to food and internet in quarantine"

No internet, bad food and dirty rooms: Olympic athletes struggle in COVID quarantine

"Germany's Eric Frenzel, a three-time gold medalist in Nordic combined, also tested positive. Dirk Schimmelpfennig, the head of Germany's delegation, said the hotel conditions for him were "unreasonable." The rooms were too small, unhygienic, and food deliveries didn't come often enough."

IOC under fire for conditions inside COVID isolation centers

"Consider all the athletes and national officials who were too scared to lodge a complaint against the Chinese because they feared it would result in even worse conditions or longer stays in quarantine? No one should have had to speak up and risk it. The IOC should have preemptively protected them."

 

[Silky Johnson]

Pasta with meat and potatoes for a couple of days, it's truly a genocide.

Nothing has changed regarding NHL. It was an unethical, manipulative, intellectually dishonest way of bailing out of the Olympics at the last moment just to increase their profit margins at the expense of fans, players and the spirit of the game.

We'll see how the isolation facilities work during the course of the games and whether they will be able to contain the spread of the virus to a degree that allows to finish the tournament. If that happens with no major outbreak among any of the teams during the tournament, the argument laid down here earlier stands. It has nothing to do and never had anything to do with the safety of the players.

Really disgusting choice of word all considered.

 

[Lambo]

Pasta with meat and potatoes for a couple of days, it's truly a genocide.

Nothing has changed regarding NHL. It was an unethical, manipulative, intellectually dishonest way of bailing out of the Olympics at the last moment just to increase their profit margins at the expense of fans, players and the spirit of the game.

We'll see how the isolation facilities work during the course of the games and whether they will be able to contain the spread of the virus to a degree that allows to finish the tournament. If that happens with no major outbreak among any of the teams during the tournament, the argument laid down here earlier stands. It has nothing to do and never had anything to do with the safety of the players.

Of course they shouldn't act like that. The delicate palates have to get along with it.

 

[Shockmaster]

Pasta with meat and potatoes for a couple of days, it's truly a genocide.

Nothing has changed regarding NHL. It was an unethical, manipulative, intellectually dishonest way of bailing out of the Olympics at the last moment just to increase their profit margins at the expense of fans, players and the spirit of the game.

We'll see how the isolation facilities work during the course of the games and whether they will be able to contain the spread of the virus to a degree that allows to finish the tournament. If that happens with no major outbreak among any of the teams during the tournament, the argument laid down here earlier stands. It has nothing to do and never had anything to do with the safety of the players.

It wasn't manipulative. Everyone knew that option was on the table. And spare us that "spirit of the game" crap. The Olympics has never done anything to tangibly help the NHL.

 

[Albatros]

The Olympics has never done anything to tangibly help the NHL.

Would you say that Nagano '98 did nothing to contribute to the NHL's international popularity?

 

[jj cale]

Would you say that Nagano '98 did nothing to contribute to the NHL's international popularity?

It didn't seem to, what did I miss?

I wanted the nhl players there too, we all did, but what did Nagano do to increase the nhls popularity internationally?

Let's just be honest here, none of us really think it will do much for the nhls popularity around the world. we just want the nhls best players going at it on the biggest stage for our own selfish entertainment reasons.

Fans here really have to start calling it like it is regarding this growing the game stuff, we all know hockey is never going to be a huge sport in the world for a variety of reasons no matter how many times they play in the olympics. No offense but This altruistic bullshit is hard to listen to on here anymore.

 

[Albatros]

It didn't seem to, what did I miss?

I wanted the nhl players there too, we all did, but what did Nagano do to increase the nhls popularity internationally?

In the 1990s the NHL became the non plus ultra in the hockey world. Of course there were multiple other enabling factors as well, such as the end of the Cold War, satellite TV, video games etc. But the Nagano Olympics were the event that for the first time allowed broad masses in Europe to watch NHL players excel.

 

[jj cale]

In the 1990s the NHL became the non plus ultra in the hockey world. Of course there were multiple other enabling factors as well, such as the end of the Cold War, satellite TV, video games etc. But the Nagano Olympics were the event that for the first time allowed broad masses in Europe to watch NHL players excel.

Europeans already knew the NHL was the best league in the world by that time, they didn't need the olympics to show them that and even if it did............how has that led to a great increase in the nhls popularity around the world? nothing has changed much, the european contribution to the nhl's profit is still only a small piece of their revenue. About the only real growth the nhl is going to possibly get to their bottom line is if the U.S wins (preferably beating Canada) in a gold medal game or on their way to it and it makes more Americans take to the sport and have it become more cool among the u.s populace. Very unlikely it's going to happen in europe, and it sure as hell not going to happen in africa or asia just because it's the olympics.

Truth be told Nagano was actually a disaster for the NHL................neither Canada nor the U.S won or even medalled. Their preference was for the U.S to take gold(where the biggest growth for the game could happen and Canada their second pick because at least it would give a country they make good money off and get most of their players from would be further hockey fired up. However, much to the nhls chagrin neither team could even get a bronze with the added bummer of the U.S team embarrassing itself with a good old fashioned hotel thrashing Led Zeppelin style.

Nagano meant almost nothing to the nhl or to the games popularity itself around the world.

 

[Albatros]

Europeans already knew the NHL was the best league in the world by that time, they didn't need the olympics to show them that and even if it did............how has that led to a great increase in the nhls popularity around the world? nothing has changed much, the european contribution to the nhl's profit is still only a small piece of their revenue. About the only real growth the nhl is going to possibly get to their bottom line is if the U.S wins (preferably beating Canada) in a gold medal game or on their way to it and it makes more Americans take to the sport and have it become more cool among the u.s populace. Very unlikely it's going to happen in europe, and it sure as hell not going to happen in africa or asia just because it's the olympics.

Nagano meant nothing.

It created a generation of hockey-playing kids that dreamed of playing in the NHL one day.

The NHL was arguably the best league in the world already much before that, but hardly anyone in Europe had any interest in it back then. It was the exposure that changed everything. Now we can already see that diminishing exposure today is also leading to diminishing interest and ultimately a generation of kids that no longer dream of the NHL. Ultimately that is a problem not only to the NHL, but to hockey as a whole because many will choose soccer or other sports instead.

Of course the NHL would much rather have growth in the United States than in Europe, but what are the prospects of that occurring, especially without the Olympics? They are just surrendering their previously strong position in Europe and getting nothing in return.

 

[jj cale]

It created a generation of hockey-playing kids that dreamed of playing in the NHL one day.

The NHL was arguably the best league in the world already much before that, but hardly anyone in Europe had any interest in it back then. It was the exposure that changed everything. Now we can already see that diminishing exposure today is also leading to diminishing interest and ultimately a generation of kids that no longer dream of the NHL. Ultimately that is a problem not only to the NHL, but to hockey as a whole because many will choose soccer or other sports instead.

Of course the NHL would much rather have growth in the United States than in Europe, but what are the prospects of that occurring, especially without the Olympics? They are just surrendering their previously strong position in Europe and getting nothing in return.

From where? europe? Canada? the U.S? how do you figure that? hasn't hockey registration even gone down in the country that even won the gold medal the czech republic? their hockey program sure did I know, golds are a thing now long in the past, it sure didn't do them any favors that's for sure. The kids in the hockey playing countries in europe were going to play anyway, where did this increase happen? in spain? the balkans? Again.......did I miss something?

As far as Europeans having interest in the NHL it sure hasn't resulted in many more dollars in the NHLs coffers, I have been listening here to european fans tell me for 15 years that their domestic clubs are more important to them then the NHL. In fact, if it wasn't for their players playing in the NHL how many would even bother to watch it aside from the most diehard fan of the game itself? bottom line is it doesn't increase the nhls profit margins much at all, if it did it wouldn't be like pulling teeth these days to get them to readily agree to sending nhl players to the olympics would it?

What boom happened because of nagano? I must be out of the loop here.

I do agree with you about how are they going to get americans more into the game without the U.S being in the olympics, I had pointed that out in my last post but again..............that's really got nothing to do with your original point about growing the game internationally.

Nagano did almost nothing for that, none of the nhl involved olympics have yet.

 

[Albatros]

From where? europe? Canada? the U.S? how do you figure that? hasn't hockey registration even gone down in the country that even won the gold medal the czech republic? their hockey program sure did I know, golds are a thing now long in the past, it sure didn't do them any favors that's for sure. The kids in the hockey playing countries in europe were going to play anyway, where did this increase happen? in spain? the balkans? Again.......did I miss something?

As far as Europeans having interest in the NHL it sure hasn't resulted in many more dollars in the NHLs coffers, I have been listening here to european fans tell me for 15 years that their domestic clubs are more important to them then the NHL. In fact, if it wasn't for their players playing in the NHL how many would even bother to watch it aside from the most diehard fan of the game itself? bottom line is it doesn't increase the nhls profit margins much at all, if it did it wouldn't be like pulling teeth these days to get them to readily agree to sending nhl players to the olympics would it?

What boom happened because of nagano? I must be out of the loop here.

I do agree with you about how are they going to get americans more into the game without the U.S being in the olympics, I had pointed that out in my last post but again..............that's really got nothing to do with your original point about growing the game internationally.

Nagano did almost nothing for that, none of the nhl involved olympics have yet.

Obviously there are financial factors that almost inevitably work against ice hockey as an expensive sport in Czechia and elsewhere, certainly in the post-socialist reality that was the case, but those are things that would also be more severe without the Olympics as higher exposure has enabled more financial support from public and commercial sources alike. Compared to Nagano these Beijing games are doing very little to channel money to hockey and that will have consequences down the line.

The NHL still needs European player production even if it feels it can ignore every other aspect of European hockey.

 

[jj cale]

Obviously there are financial factors that almost inevitably work against ice hockey as an expensive sport in Czechia and elsewhere, certainly in the post-socialist reality that was the case, but those are things that would also be more severe without the Olympics as higher exposure has enabled more financial support from public and commercial sources alike. Compared to Nagano these Beijing games are doing very little to channel money to hockey and that will have consequences down the line.

The NHL still needs European player production even if it feels it can ignore every other aspect of European hockey.

As long as their domestic leagues are going and hockey is on t.v they will continue to get players developed in Europe i'm sure, the european countries that like hockey like hockey. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the NHL should give up on olympic participation, I believe they should keep trying, you can't have it ever click if you don't try, it's just that so far we have to all admit it has done very little for the NHL in terms of profit or for the game itself in terms of popularity internationally.

 

[Neil Patrick Harris]

Since it was brought up on this page and some users felt the need to snark about it, here's the quarantine food that Vasnetova was discussing in her complaint:

If I were a top-level athlete who'd spent years training and travelled to a foreign country to participate, I'd probably be pretty damn upset too.

 

[Dofs]

As long as their domestic leagues are going and hockey is on t.v they will continue to get players developed in Europe i'm sure, the european countries that like hockey like hockey.

It's cute how much you underestimate the importance of national teams in Europe and the necessity for fans to actually see their best players play for their teams.

 

[lawrence]

Thankful NHL players didn't go.

COVID infection rates up for Olympic athletes

there were at least 70 positive cases that were positive on arrival on the 1st day alone.


These athletes are arriving positive from their own countries.

 

[lawrence]

Since it was brought up on this page and some users felt the need to snark about it, here's the quarantine food that Vasnetova was discussing in her complaint:

If I were a top-level athlete who'd spent years training and travelled to a foreign country to participate, I'd probably be pretty damn upset too.

They should also share the food that is available for non positive athletes.

 

[Albatros]

(Mod)

The games belong to the international sporting community, not China. Absolutely the athletes have the right to expect decent treatment and it's the duty of the hosts to accommodate that.

 

[Namejs]

As for health and safety, the Chinese are quite literally disinfecting every object touched by a human being. Including all the pucks in the intermission. The bags and the equipment of all the players.

The personnel has so many layers of protective equipment on that it looks like they work in the ER.

The transportation is isolated from the general public, the entire infrastructure is autonomous.

Yet somehow the menu in the isolation facilities is the final piece of evidence that was needed to definitely conclude that the players would not be safe in China. I have been following each and every one of the last 15 Olympic games and every single goddamn time there have been the same complaints about food and mattresses and not enough space, etc.

Don't come here and bullshit me about health and safety because there wasn't iberian jamon available at one of the isolation facilities. You literally don't know what you're talking about.

The players are infinitely safer in China in terms of Covid than anywhere else in the world right now.

 

[Albatros]

Disinfection of pucks and alike is just meaningless overkill very unlikely to give any measurable health and safety benefit (if anything, excessive use of chemicals may have the opposite effect).

 

[Silky Johnson]

How does using disinfectants on too many surfaces lead to an increased likelihood of contracting Covid?
What is the mechanism for that? I have so many questions.

How does going above and beyond the usual precautions regarding Covid make it worse? Please, be specific. I am eagerly waiting for your elaboration here.

I think he meant that the chemicals themselves might pose a health risk....

 

[Silky Johnson]

As for health and safety, the Chinese are quite literally disinfecting every object touched by a human being. Including all the pucks in the intermission. The bags and the equipment of all the players.

The personnel has so many layers of protective equipment on that it looks like they work in the ER.

The transportation is isolated from the general public, the entire infrastructure is autonomous.

Yet somehow the menu in the isolation facilities is the final piece of evidence that was needed to definitely conclude that the players would not be safe in China. I have been following each and every one of the last 15 Olympic games and every single goddamn time there have been the same complaints about food and mattresses and not enough space, etc.

Don't come here and bullshit me about health and safety because there wasn't iberian jamon available at one of the isolation facilities. You literally don't know what you're talking about.

The players are infinitely safer in China in terms of Covid than anywhere else in the world right now.

The IOC themselves have stated that the treatment of athletes in quarantine is unacceptable.

Calm down...breath...relax.