Russia (bbabo.net), - Rossiyskaya Gazeta's correspondents are getting accustomed to Olympic Beijing, and our figure skaters had their first training session in the capital of China. We tell you the latest news on the eve of the Olympics.

PCR every day

While half a year ago at the Summer Games in Tokyo, journalists took PCR tests every day only for the first three days, and then only with a four-day interval, then in Beijing everything is much stricter. You need to check for covid every day until the very end of the competition. Therefore, the first full day on Chinese soil began with a procedure that will become a routine for us in the next three weeks. Another difference: in Japan, the entire process was at the mercy of the subjects. You just had to spit in a test tube and hand it over to competent hands. Now the organizers keep everything under their control inside and out. Waking up in the morning, we went outside to special booths. In each, behind a transparent glass, there is an employee in a spacesuit. There are two hand holes in the partition. The first pair of hands scans the accreditations, the second takes a swab. To the sincere joy of everyone who passed the painful test at the airport with the sampling of material from the nose, here the medical workers are only interested in our oropharynxes.

By the way, Chinese tests are so sensitive that no special preparation is required for them. That is, it is not necessary to come on an empty stomach. It will not come out and cheat, after rinsing your mouth with a disinfectant liquid.

Forgetting to take the test on time will also fail. At the exit from each hotel, including ours, there are special turnstiles that fix truants. Another know-how of the organizers of the Beijing Olympics: there are metal detectors in the lobby of the hotel, but they are not intended for those who enter the hotel, but for those who leave. To be honest, this is the first time I see such a system. But it is very convenient. You get into the shuttle - and already in a clean zone: that is why there is no screening procedure at other Olympic venues.

Robots are cooking

It is only three kilometers from our hotel to the holy of holies of journalists working at the Olympics, the Main Media Center. But walking to the GMC will not work even if you wish - after all, all the Olympic facilities are enclosed in a closed perimeter. So for any, even the smallest distances, there is only one way to travel - media shuttles. And we can only see the city from the bus window.

However, journalists, like athletes, did not come to Beijing for an excursion, but to work. And the work of all media employees begins with the already mentioned Main Media Center. The HMC is one of the few facilities in Beijing that was built specifically for the 2022 Games. More precisely, one of the compartments of the National Trade Center under construction was temporarily converted into a media center. The space is conditionally divided into three floors. At the very top is a souvenir shop, a general needs store, which is especially in demand when you are in a closed perimeter, a post office. At the very bottom there are working areas, offices of the world's largest agencies and rooms of silence and relaxation, where a tired journalist can soak up in a massage chair.

But the main entertainment for colleagues, until the Olympics really started, is the canteen. Here, Chinese engineering thought unfolded in full force. We bet you have not seen a robot that cooks dumplings, or a robot bartender that mixes cocktails for everyone. But the main pride of the local restaurant is a fully automated system for serving dishes. The whole process can be observed inside and out. How the ordered dish is cooked in a special vat, then moved to a plate, and the plate is delivered to the delivery robots, which deliver hot food to the right tables along special "corridors" on the ceiling.

Back to news | But the rest of the athletes are just settling in the Olympic village and are looking at the arenas. However, there is one discipline that, even for training, can gather more journalists and spectators (if the Games weren’t held with almost empty stands) than other competitions. This, of course, is women's single skating, where all attention is now focused on three Russian figure skaters - Kamila Valieva, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. They held their first training session at the Beijing Capital Sports Palace under the supervision of coaches, numerous journalists and Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic champion Alina Zagitova, who used to skate with the girls on the same rink in Eteri Tutberidze’s group, and now stands on the other side of the side with a microphone.

- Beijing 2022! The Olympic Games will start here very soon. Such nostalgia. I'm glad to be back in that atmosphere. This time I will be in the role of a correspondent who follows the events and covers them. It is a great honor for me to be a link between athletes and their fans on the other side of the screen, - Zagitova wrote on Instagram. - I root for everyone, you are great fellows, and you will succeed.Three-time world champion in men's skating and one of the contenders for the Olympic "gold" American Nathan Chen tried the Beijing ice a little earlier. Since our skaters are already stepping on the heels of men in the saturation of programs with the most complex elements and possession of quadruple jumps, Chen's question was about the Russians. And Nathan honestly admitted that he was ready to compete with the two-time champion of the Games, Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, but not with Russian single skaters.

- I'm glad that I won't have to compete with them. They're doing amazing things, it's just great," Chen told reporters after his workout.

In the dining room, Chinese engineering has unfolded at its full potential. Robots not only cook dumplings, but also mix cocktails

Valieva, Shcherbakova and Trusova refused to communicate with the press, but their runs of free programs were more eloquent than words. Valieva very confidently skated "Bolero". Yes, I fought for the exit from the triple Axel and landed on two feet from the quadruple toe loop. But she did a clean quad salchow, a cascade of two four-three sheepskin coats. Shcherbakova showed that she got in shape. Falls could not be avoided (on the quadruple flip), but there were no problems with the quadruple lutz, as well as with the rest of the elements. Trusova, as always, is trying to skate according to the program as much as possible. He wants to do five quads at official competitions. By the way, the same number as Chen. To start, Sasha went for four quads. Fell off salchow and lutz, but did a flip and a quad-lutz-triple sheepskin combination.

Most recently, at the end of January, these three Russians received medals at the European Championship. Judging by the first training session, they also confirmed the application for the Russian podium at the Olympics. How else? The team tournament starts on February 4th. So let's pick up the pace.

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