The third edition of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Games have been postponed once more as Covid-19 continues to complicate the hosting of international sporting events. The regional multi-sports event was originally scheduled for April 2020, before being postponed numerous times after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further postponement of the third GCC Games was approved by the Executive Office of the Council of Presidents of the Gulf Olympic Committees during their recent meeting. Sporting action was slated for January 2022, before being pushed back to May 11-21, 2022.
The 2022 GCC Games were the third multi-sports games to be postponed due to health concerns in the run up to the 2022 Winter Olympics. The postponement represents the increasing difficulty of hosting sporting events during the most recent wave of Covid-19 spurred by the omicron variant.
Covid-19 has continued to ravage the greater sporting community over the last few weeks, with a multitude of athletes in American professional sports leagues testing positive for the virus. The spread hasn’t been limited to domestic sports though, as denoted by the cancellation of the Canadian mixed doubles curling Olympic trials, and the positive test of Olympic alpine skiing hopefuls, Mikaela Shiffirn and Lara Gut-Behrami.
Despite all the recent curve balls thrown by Covid-19, Chinese organizers remain confident in their ability to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Huang Chun, an official representing the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee, recently stated the following about Beijing 2022′s Covid-19 countermeasures according to Reuters; “We firmly believe these COVID prevention measures can reduce the risk of infection spreading, and can ensure the health of the athletes and other games personnel.”
The recent uptick in athletes testing positive may test the limits of Chinese organizers however. It remains to be seen if stricter Covid-19 measures will be put in place before the 2022 Winter Olympics.
One thing that is becoming more clear is that the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will be yet another international sporting event forced to confront the Covid-19 pandemic. Whether or not that confrontation will be successful, like the experience of Tokyo 2020, remains to be seen.
The clock continues to countdown towards the winter multi-sports games as the 30 days to go milestone approaches on the horizon. The 2022 Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on February 4, 2022.
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