McMorris describes Beijing bubble life as 'sports prison'

BEIJING — When a freestyle skier at Big Air Shougang tugged off his goggles last week and tossed them into the crowd, cleaners dressed in full hazmat gear converged on the section.

They hastily shooed away the fans in the section to disinfect the area.

The some-11,000 athletes, officials and media at the Beijing Olympics have been separated from the city's general population in a "closed loop" effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. Anywhere outside the "closed loop" is out of bounds.

Two years into the global pandemic, the countless kilometres of tall fencing paint a dystopian backdrop.

"It's kinda like sports prison," said Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, who captured his third bronze medal in Beijing. "You don't do anything. You're just chilling. Which isn’t that bad, you get lots of rest, hanging out."

McMorris's sentiments weren't unique.

The Games' main media centre features a small park. It's the only significant outdoor space where journalists are permitted to walk. It takes about 500 steps to walk its outer perimeter.

Reporters have taken to calling it "the prison yard." Or, more than two weeks in, simply "the yard."

China's zero-COVID strategy meant tighter restrictions than even the Tokyo Olympics six months earlier. And the rigid protocols have essentially been successful. The number of positive cases in the "bubble" has hovered in the single digits for the past five days, with only one case reported on Wednesday.

Athletes are required to depart within 48 hours of their event ending, meaning no sightseeing or partying. What kind of Olympic memories will they take with them?

Figure skater Keegan Messing said he missed the chance in Beijing to catch up with skaters from other countries.

"It almost