BEIJING — Life inside the Beijing Olympics bubble comes with a long list of rules. Wear a high-grade mask at all times. Disinfect your hands. Don’t stand within 6 feet of anyone, and don’t forget the daily COVID-19 test.
Phill Drobnick has been able to live with all those things during his time in China with the U.S. curling teams. But he drew the line at one demand: the placards that declared NO CHEERING at the Olympic arenas.
“All the venues have had signs,” said Drobnick, an Eveleth, Minn., resident and USA Curling’s director of coaching. “I’ve never been to a sporting event with no cheering, so it would have been hard not to.”
Drobnick didn’t want to push the boundaries too far, particularly in a no-nonsense country like China. Still, he didn’t come 6,000 miles to sit on his hands. And at these Olympics, where the venues are mostly empty and families are stuck at home, every sound counts.
Like last summer’s Tokyo Games, the Beijing Olympics are being held under strict COVID-19 prevention measures. No international fans were allowed to travel to China, and only a small number of carefully screened Chinese spectators have been permitted to attend events. Those who get a seat are asked to limit their noisemaking to applause, given that shouting can spread coronavirus as well as spirit.
That has eliminated the usual Winter Games soundtrack of cowbells, German drinking songs, chants in many languages and Kleintje Pils, the official pep band of the Dutch speedskaters. But the athletes and team staffs have done their best to fill the void.
The U.S. men’s hockey team showed up at big air snowboarding, speedskating and women’s hockey. American athletes and staff from several sports came to the women’s hockey gold medal game, sitting across the arena from Canada’s supporters and starting dueling chants.
Drobnick made it to many events, and he got as good as he gave. Friday, when the U.S. men played Canada for the bronze medal in curling, American athletes gathered…