Olympic spotlight back on China for a COVID-tinged Games

BEIJING (AP) — It’s time to raise the curtain on the Beijing Winter Olympics. Opening ceremony for the 2022 Games is Friday night at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium.

Due to COVID restrictions, these will be some of the hardest-to-navigate Games in history. They are being held in a “closed-loop” system in which every participant must pass a COVID test every day. It’s one of several tough issues involved in making Beijing the first country to host both a Summer and Winter Games. In 2008, China invited the world to explore its country. Fourteen years later, it is less concerned about what others think.

Critics have assailed the host for a range of issues, from its poor human-rights issue to its zero-tolerance COVID policy to its treatment of star tennis player Peng Shuai.

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