COVID-affected Beijing Games should not detract from a thrilling Winter Olympics

The fireworks have faded, the remaining athletes are being shuttled to their charter flights and the mountain media centre is being dismantled.

The Beijing Olympic Games – the second of the COVID-19 era — have come to an end.

It was, of course, an Olympics shaped inexorably by the pandemic prevention measures that have been put in place.

From the moment we arrived at the airport, media and athletes were greeted to the sight of staff dressed in full hazmat protective gear – a confronting sight initially but entirely necessary to ensure the bubble was not breached.

It's said that major events often take place in metaphorical bubbles, but this time the bubble had a very real cage around it, complete with signs warning us not to cross into the outside world.

Those measures are without a doubt a necessity, but no less frustrating because of it, sadly stopping media from being able to explore one of the world's most exciting and historic cities.

As an example, the Great Wall can be seen from our hotel in Zhangjiakou, lit up against the night sky, one of the world's most astonishing ancient structures so tantalisingly close, yet completely beyond our reach.

That certainly served to detract from what might be considered a full Olympic experience, the opportunity to fully explore the host city or interact with spectators, finding out more about a culture too often demonised by the Western media.

Instead, journalists were invited to log in for virtual tours from the comfort of the media centre. Not many takers, thanks.

That being said, the tough measures have proven popular among the athletes, the ones who actually count most in all this.

Many of the athletes said they've never felt safer from testing positive than at any other time during