Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics: NEW TURN OF EVENTS - I AM NOT GOING!

I just wrote a blog post on Monday telling you that I was going to photograph the Winter Olympics in Beijing. At the end of that blog post, I said that things could change at any time. But at that time, I really felt that everything was a "go". I called JAL and paid for my flight and confirmed everything with Team USA. 

Then one day later I started hearing about charter flights being cancelled because so many attendees are pulling out, NBC not feeling it was safe to send their broadcasters, other news organizations pulling out, and a friend sent me this article:

https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics-on-high-alert-hazmat-suits-isolation-centers-midnight-knocks-at-the-door-025100701.html

I also heard about many other close friends and family members who currently have Covid, making me wonder if it was my turn at any minute.

Although I was never really feeling 100% about my decision to go, I now fell right back into my turmoil of the back and forth or deciding to risk it or pull the plug.

I have been working on the planning process for Beijing for more than a year, with the major work being done since returning from the Summer Olympics in Tokyo just 6 months ago. The thought of pulling out, after all this work and stress, kills me. But, I felt that under the circumstances, there was only one choice to make. 

With that, I reached out to my contacts at Team USA and told them that I was scrubbing the trip. To say that this is a hard decision is an understatement. It isn't the cost of the airline penalties, it is the sadness of not photographing something I love so much. I have already seen ads on television for the Winter Olympics and received many messages from friends who are taking the risk and going, and I have to admit, it stings a bit.

I also know that there are many of you who reached out to me this week and told me how much you were looking forward to the photos and stories from these Games. I feel bad that I can not share those personal stories with you all.

So...for the next 3 weeks, I will be joining many of you watching the Olympics on television. It will be the first time in 15 years that I have done that. And yes, I am sure that it will be with mixed emotions for me. 

I did have an idea that I am trying to put together now. That is, to have my friends who are in Beijing do some guest blogs, or allow me to interview them and write stories from their perspectives, using their images and experiences. I will be just as interested in what they are dealing with, as all of you. I hope to have more information on that soon.

I would like to thank all of you who have reached out with your points of view, words of encouragement, and overall support.

I just hope that this pandemic ends soon, and that we can get back to normal! Oh...and that Paris 2024 is back to normal too!

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