Photo: VCG

A spokesperson of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games refuted recent reports by foreign media warning athletes over eating meat products in China that may contain banned substances and advising them not to take their phones to China citing alleged security issues. The committee ensured the absolute safety of athletes. 

The committee highly values food safety and all the meat products meet food safety requirements, the spokesperson told media on Monday. Additionally, Chinese food safety authorities also established a comprehensive information system that tracks animal breeding. 

The National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA) has warned athletes heading to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing to avoid eating meat products in China due to a high likelihood of it being contaminated with banned substances, the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on January 10. 

"In particular, when it concerns breeding, medicine and anti-epidemic for the food animal, we strictly follow the rules and the national standards to ensure the food products for the athletes are absolutely safe," the spokesperson of the Games said. 

Besides hyping on the food security, some media also mentioned issues on network security. For instance, the Wall Street Journal reported lately that the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee is encouraging Team USA to use disposable or "burner" phones instead of bringing their own devices to China because of possible surveillance during the Games. 

All the acts of the committee strictly abide by the Law of China on Personal Information Protection and other relevant laws and regulations, the spokesperson said. 

Furthermore, athletes are advised to voluntarily download My 2022 app on their phones as it provides information on weather, catering, accommodation, traffic, event news and medal list. The Tokyo 2020 has used a similar app, the spokesperson said. 

When they use this app for the first time, the application will ask for the authorization of the user, which has also been scrutinized by the app platforms of Google, Apple and Samsung. All personal information will be encrypted to ensure privacy. 

There will be good and bad media narratives but the Games are like a cheerful gathering bringing the athletes from the worldwide to celebrate, Yao Ming, also one of the leading Chinese sports figures to back Beijing's bid for the 2022 Winter Games, told the Global Times on Monday. 

"In overall, I think things are trending toward a positive track, and we need to strive for making a bright future," Yao said, noting that in terms of different narratives, "we need to listen and see if they make sense before any judgment."