In OlymPicks, we highlight news, gossip and the results of Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics.
Long-term Beijing resident Richard N. Liu is back in Beijing since moving back home to Canada in 2014 – this time to work for Team Canada in the 2022 Games.
He’s
not only returning to the city he called home for more than 20 years,
he’s also working at his second Beijing Olympics. He was a volunteer in
the ’08 Games as well as Mission Staff for Team Canada at the
Paralympics. Now that he’s back and working like crazy to prepare for
the big event, we asked him a few questions about life inside the
“closed loop.”
What’s your role this year at the Olympics?I’m part of the Administrative Personnel for the Mission Staff of Team Canada.
Playing it safe inside the Closed Loop
What parts of the Closed Loop are you in — do you stay in one specific zone or do you move from place to place?I'm with our Advanced Team, which
arrived over a week ago in the 'Jing. We are located outside the Olympic
Village, at a Performance Center, but we have the flexibility to move
from venue to venue, and from competition zone to competition zone
within the Closed Loop using dedicated transportation such as cars,
buses, and the high-speed train up to Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.As a long-term Beijinger, how does it feel to be back in the city? Do you get any of the old "Beijing flavor" inside the loop?It's been great and amazing to see the
blue skies during the Lunar New Year! We had jiaozi during
the Lunar New Year's Eve, which nearly brought me to tears. Oh how I
missed thee! And I have yet to get a jianbing!
One Day countdown for the 2008 Games
Speaking of food, what's the food like
within the loop? I'd imagine there's got to be so many different tastes
and dietary regimes to adhere to.Since we are located outside the village
at a Performance Center, we're housed in a hotel, so the breakfast
buffets are awesome … there goes my diet! I hope to find some time to
visit and experience the food and services closer to the Games though,
as I saw some robots taking over the work of cooking.What's the most impressive change you've noticed about Beijing?I'll let you know when I get out of the
office! We have been working non-stop during pre-games to ensure
everything is up and running for our athletes who have already started
to arrive.
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I'd imagine you've got a packed schedule
— what's a typical day like? Will you get any breaks/time off to
watch any of the games as a spectator?I usually get up early in the morning
before the sun rises, get my coffee and breakfast, and then head up to
the office and work until 9pm … or longer if things get busy. We have an
amazing team of Canadians from coast to coast back home as well as here
on the ground, and we keep each other energized and entertained. I took
half a day off on Lunar New Year morning to speak with family and
friends and will probably do the same for the Lantern Festival. When
things quiet down, I do hope to visit the Olympic Village and see a
couple of venues if I'm lucky.
Celebrating with Team Canada staff on Lunar New Year in the Closed Loop
Organizers are taking some impressive
precautionary measures to make sure there isn't a Covid outbreak. How
does that play out for you in terms of your day-to-day schedule?I had to start doing the Closed Loop
bubble prep a couple of weeks before departure in my hometown of
Burnaby, just outside of Vancouver, by taking three PCR tests and
getting a third booster (I threw in a couple of additional vaccines like
the flu shot as well), I've avoided large crowds since Christmas and
had daily temperature checks. Also prayed a lot as there was a chance we
couldn't get on the plane if we got Covid or if the health declaration
wasn't confirmed. However, I thankfully got the green light before
departing.
Liu (left) at the Water Cube during the 2008 Paralympics
And how about after touching down in Beijing?We arrived at a very quiet Beijing
Capital International Airport and were ushered efficiently through the process,
probably the fastest I have ever left T3! Got on the highway and to our
Performance Center in no time flat. It's very good to be back in my
second hometown, but the part I am missing tremendously is being able to
wander outside to hang out with my friends here in Beijing and grab a
cold one. Well, at least it's not 1918 and we have WeChat!What events would you recommend the average sports fan tune into during the games?Watch everything if you can as it's all
amazing, but I am hoping to catch Jamaica's bobsled team as they have a
cool Canadian story beginning that was captured by the 1993 movie "Cool
Runnings" (find trailer below). I'm also looking forward to the women's monobob, which will
be a new discipline for Beijing 2022 to watch out for.
Images courtesy of Richard Liu