Risk management strategies for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games: The Beijing scheme

The Impact of Preventive Strategies Adopted during Large Events on the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of the Tokyo Olympics to Provide Guidance for Future Large Events

This study aimed to analyze the impact of hosting large events on the spread of pandemics, taking Tokyo Olympics 2020 as a case study. A risk assessment method for the whole organization process was established, which could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of various risk mitigation measures. Different scenarios for Games participants and Japanese residents during the Tokyo Olympics were designed based on the infection control protocols proposed by the Olympic Committee and local governments. A modified Wells-Riley model considering the influence of social distance, masking and vaccination, and an SIQRV model that introduced the effect of quarantine and vaccination strategies on the pandemic spread were developed in this study. Based on the two models, our predicted results of daily confirmed cases and cumulative cases were obtained and compared with reported data, where good agreement was achieved. The results show that the two core infection control strategies of the bubble scheme and frequent testing scheme curbed the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic during the Tokyo Olympics. Among Games participants, Japanese local staff accounted for more than 60% of the total in positive cases due to their large population and most relaxed travel restrictions. The surge in positive cases was mainly attributed to the high transmission rate of the Delta variant and the low level of immunization in Japan. Based on our simulation results, the risk management flaws for the Tokyo Olympics were identified and improvement measures were investigated. Moreover, a further analysis was carried out on the impact of different preventive measures with respect to minimizing the transmission of new variants with higher transmissibility. Overall, the findings in this study can help policymakers to design scientifically based and practical countermeasures to cope with pandemics during the hosting of large events.

Necessity and challenges for the post-pandemic Hangzhou Asian Games: An interdisciplinary data science assessment

Background

The postponement of the Hangzhou Asian Games has reignited controversy over whether it is necessary and safe to hold. This study aimed to assess its necessity for Asian elite sport and the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic through joint data science research on elite sports and public health Internet big data.

Methods

For necessity, we used seven pre-pandemic Asian Games to investigate its long-term internal balance and six pre-pandemic Olympic Games to examine its contribution to the external competitiveness of Asian sport powers through bivariate Pearson correlation analyses between sport variables and holding year. For challenges, we used Johns Hopkins COVID-19 data and Tokyo 2020 Olympic data to quantify the past impact of the pandemic on elite sport by another correlation analysis between pandemic variables and the change in the weighted score of medal share (CWSMS), built a transferable linear regression model, transferred the model to Jakarta 2018 Asian Games data, and eventually forecasted the possible impact of the pandemic on the results of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Results

The proportion of gold medal countries in the Asian Games showed a long-term upward trend (Pearson r ₍₇₎ = 0.849, p < 0.05), and the share of medals won by Asian countries showed a significant increasing process (Pearson r ₍₆₎ = 0.901, p < 0.05). The cumulative number of COVID-19 deaths (CND) was most significantly correlated to CWSMS (Pearson r ₍₁₀₀₎ = -0.455, p < 0.001). The total Olympic model output of Asian countries was 0.0115 in Tokyo 2020 and is predicted to be 0.0093 now. The prediction of CWSMS in Hangzhou was 0.0013 for China, 0.0006 for Japan, and 0.0008 for South Korea.

Conclusion

We documented that Asian Games played a significant role in the long-term balanced internal structure and the increasing global competitiveness of Asian elite sport. We proved that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the Olympic performance of countries worldwide, while the competitive performance at the Hangzhou Games would be less affected than the world average level. This study also highlights the importance of interdisciplinary data science research on large-scale sports events and public health.

Medical services for sports injuries and illnesses in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games

BACKGROUND

Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games was the second Games held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To a certain extent, it has altered the way sporting activities operate. There is a lack of knowledge on injury risk and illness occurrence in elite winter sport athletes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to describe the incidence of injuries and illnesses sustained during the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing from February 4 to 20, 2022.

METHODS

We recorded the daily number of injuries and illnesses among athletes reported by Beijing 2022 medical staff in the polyclinic, medical venues, and ambulance. We calculated injury and illness incidence as the number of injuries or illnesses occurring during competition or training, respectively, with incidence presented as injuries/illnesses per 100 athlete-days.

RESULTS

In total, 2,897 athletes from 91 nations experienced injury or illness. Beijing 2022 medical staff reported 326 injuries and 80 illnesses, equaling 11.3 injuries and 2.8 illnesses per 100 athletes over the 17-day period. Altogether, 11% of the athletes incurred at least one injury and nearly 3% incurred at least one illness. The number of injured athletes was highest in the skating sports (n=104), followed by alpine skiing (n=53), ice track (n=37), freestyle skiing (n=36), and ice hockey (n=35), and was the lowest in the Nordic skiing disciplines (n=20). Of the 326 injuries, 14 (4.3%) led to an estimated absence from training or competition of more than 1 week. A total of 52 injured athletes were transferred to hospitals for further care. The number of athletes with illness (n=80) was the highest for skating (n=33) and Nordic skiing (n=22). A total of 50 illnesses (62.5%) were admitted to the department of dentistry/ophthalmology/otolaryngology, and the most common cause of illness was other causes, including preexisting illness and medicine (n=52, 65%).

CONCLUSION

Overall, 11% of athletes incurred at least one injury during the Games, which is similar to the findings during the Olympic Winter Games in 2014 and 2018. Regarding illness, 2% of athletes were affected, which is approximately one-third of the number affected in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.