Beijing 2022: Non-vaccinated athletes must serve 21-day quarantine

Beijing 2022 will be the first Winter Games in be held in China

Athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics who are not fully vaccinated against coronavirus will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing.

Athletes who have a justified medical exemption for the vaccine will have their cases considered.

The Winter Olympics run next February, the Paralympics in March.

Games organisers said that tickets will be sold "exclusively to spectators residing in China's mainland" who meet the coronavirus countermeasures.

Vaccinated athletes will be allowed to move only between Games-related venues for training, competitions and work.

All those involved in the Games within the closed-loop system will be tested daily.

Competitors at the summer Games in Tokyo this year were given daily tests and served a three-day quarantine on their arrival.

Those Games were largely held behind closed doors, with up to 10,000 Japanese fans permitted at venues.

The International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee said it welcomed the decision to sell tickets to those in China's mainland.

"It will facilitate the growth of winter sports in China by giving those spectators a first-hand Olympic and Paralympic experience of elite winter sports," a statement read.

"However, all parties feel for the athletes and the spectators from around the world, knowing that the restriction on spectators had to be put in place to ensure the safe holding of the Games this winter."