TOP Swiss snowboarders and the Laax Open event director said they had high expectations for the Beijing Winter Olympics taking place in less than three weeks, as they opposed the politicization of sports and pinned their hopes on more and more Chinese hitting the slopes in the future. Jan Scherrer, a two-time Olympian who represented Switzerland at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and Jonas Boesiger, who also competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, will both participate in the Winter Games in Beijing next month and said they were now eagerly looking forward to the event. “I’m going to expect a nice course and a nice, bigger, good competition and just overall awesome experience, I’m really looking forward to,” he told Xinhua. “It’s going to be a great event. I can’t wait to go there.” Asked about his expectations for the trip to Beijing, Scherrer, who finished second on the halfpipe in last week’s Laax Open, said he believes that the Beijing Games is going to be very well-organized. “I’m sure the event is going to be great. I’m very excited for the half-pipe event. I’ve been working for this event for more than a year now. I can’t wait until it finally starts,” he said. Donald Nader, event director of the Laax Open, said Beijing 2022 is an opportunity to boost solidarity, unity and resilience of humankind in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Taking place from Jan. 11 to 15 this year, the Laax Open is one of the most important snowboarding events each year and includes competitions in slopestyle and halfpipe for women and men. For the safety of Olympic-related personnel, a special “closed-loop” system will be implemented during the Beijing Olympics. It allows fully vaccinated Olympic-related personnel to enter China without undergoing a compulsory 21-day quarantine. Commenting on the COVID policies in Beijing, Boesiger said: “For sure it’s going to be a little bit inconvenient, but I think it’s necessary to keep the Games safe. And I think as an athlete, I feel safe with all the precautions and I think it’s going to work out. With all the measures, it should be a pretty safe event.” Scherrer agreed with Boesier, saying that as long as the Olympics happen in Beijing, he thought it will be better if the COVID rules are very strict. The two Swiss athletes as well as Nader all stressed that they refute calls by some political leaders for a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Winter Olympics and they are against the politicization of sporting events. (Xinhua) | 