WASHINGTON — From a possible TikTok ban being proposed in Congress to an increase in the United States military presence in the Pacific, it's no secret that relations between the United States and China are relatively tense right now.

In fact, the relationship with China is shaping policy around the world.

Just this week a new submarine agreement with the United Kingdom and Australia was announced, in part, to compete with China.

However, many Chinese Americans fear the tense relationship could result in an increase in hate crimes or discrimination.

CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORY

Because of all the recent stories — and tension with Beijing — it is worth a visit to the Chinese American museum in Washington, D.C., to speak with David Uy, the executive director.

"People often ask, what does a Chinese-American look like — I am one of them — I am half Chinese, and I am half Italian," Uy said.

What's important during this time is that all Americans know that just because politics with Beijing is tense, it doesn't give anyone an excuse to be rude — or hateful — to their neighbors, he urged.

"You may have issues with a country but those people in the U.S. are as American as you," Uy said.

"We don't want spy balloons drifting over the country," Uy added.

Unfortunately hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise.

Newly updated data from the FBI shows that in 2021 there were over 700 anti-Asian incidents nationwide. Uy's museum has felt it first-hand.

"We've had a rock thrown threw our window, and we have had hate speech left at one of our exhibits," he said.

Part of Uy's goal is to educate Americans more on Chinese-American history in the U.S.

For instance, the transcontinental railroad was largely built by Chinese laborers.

"Ten miles of rail track was laid in a single day," Uy said. One fear he has, is a return to the past.

From the 1880s to the 1960s, the United States Congress significantly restricted — and for many years, banned — Chinese citizens from migrating to the United States.

The Chinese Exclusion Act remains one of the most restrictive immigration laws ever passed by Congress.

"They were not always the most welcomed of immigrants," Uy said.

All of this is worth keeping in mind as the political rivalry between the United States and China intensifies.

Any political expert will tell you, it's a rivalry that won't be going away soon.

BEIJING —

Day 16 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games will consist of the third and final runs of the two-woman and the third and final runs of the four-man events in Bobsled and the pairs free skate in Figure Skating.

Bobsled

The two-woman final runs in Bobsled will happen on Day 16.

Francesco Friedrich and Germany have finished off an unforgettable show in sliding at the Beijing Olympics.

Friedrich won his second Olympic gold medal in Beijing and fourth of his career by driving to the win Sunday in the four-man event, the final sliding race of these games.

There were 10 sliding events in Beijing. Germany won gold in nine of them and took 16 medals overall. The rest of the world combined had 14 medals in sliding.

Johannes Lochner won silver for Germany on Sunday and Justin Kripps of Canada got the bronze. Hunter Church was 10th for the U.S. and Frank DelDuca tied for 13th.

Hockey

Hannes Bjorninen scored the go-ahead goal 31 seconds into the third period and Finland claimed its first Olympic men’s hockey gold medal with a 2-1 win over the Russian Olympic Committee on the final day of the Beijing Games.

Ville Pokka also scored and Harri Sateri stopped 16 shots as Finland rallied from a 1-0 first-period deficit. The Finns’ best finishes in 17 previous Olympic appearances were silver medals at the 1988 Calgary Games and 2006 Torino Games.

Mikhail Grigorenko scored for the favored Russian team, the defending champions, in the second consecutive tournament without NHL players. The Russians won 4-3 over Germany in overtime in the gold-medal final at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Ivan Fedotov stopped 29 shots for the Russian Olympic Committee.

Finland completed the tournament with a 7-0 record.

Figure Skating

Top Olympic figure skaters showcase their skills in a creative, unscored event at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

Related video above: Russian skater Kamila Valieva finishes fourth

The U.S. figure skaters whose Olympic silver medals are being withheld have filed an appeal to have them awarded before the end of the Beijing Games, with a decision expected as soon as Saturday night.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed to The Associated Press that it was hearing the case Saturday evening in Beijing and expected a rapid ruling.

In a letter sent to IOC president Thomas Bach, a copy of which was obtained by AP, attorneys for the skaters said they sought a ruling before Sunday's closing ceremony.

Kamila Valieva led the Russian team to a victory in last week’s team event, and the U.S. finished second. Soon after, a positive doping test for the 15-year-old skater was disclosed. CAS allowed her to continue skating at the women's event, but the International Olympic Committee said it would not award medals in any events in which she finished among the top three.

She finished fourth in the women's event — crying as she left the ice, then criticized by her coach after a mistake-filled long program.

This case involves the team event held the previous week. The Russians won the event by a large margin. Japan was third and Canada finished fourth.

The letter sent on behalf of the American runners-up says the IOC's “own rules mandate that a victory ceremony ‘to present medals to the athletes shall follow the conclusion of each sports event.’"

In a meeting earlier this week with the skaters, Bach offered them Olympic torches as something of a holdover memento while the doping case, which could take months, or even years, plays out.

In their letter to Bach, the attorneys said they hoped the IOC would reconsider but that because of the urgency, they were filing the appeal.

U.S. Figure Skating executive director Ramsey Baker sent the AP a statement standing in support of the skaters.

“Having a medal ceremony at an Olympic Games is not something that can be replicated anywhere else, and they should be celebrated in front of the world before leaving Beijing,” Baker said.

The letter to Bach, sent by attorney Paul Greene, who represents athletes in doping and other cases against Olympic authorities, said the IOC president had asked the athletes for their input.

“A dignified medal ceremony from our clients’ vantage point is one in the Medals Plaza as originally planned and afforded to all other medalists,” he wrote.

After Valieva's test became public, Russia's anti-doping agency at first put her on provisional suspension, then lifted the suspension. That triggered the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency to lead an appeal to CAS, which acted swiftly and said Valieva could still compete.

That did not resolve the larger question about the result from the team competition.

Nine Americans stand to get some sort of medal out of that — either the second-place prize they're aiming to receive this weekend, or a gold that could become theirs if the Russian's are disqualified because of Valieva's doping case.

Because she is 15, Valieva is considered a “protected person” under anti-doping rules, and is not expected to receive a harsh penalty. Her coaches and doctors are being investigated by Russian and world anti-doping authorities.

___

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.

Here's what to expect on Day 14 of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games:

Halfpipe

Even when Eileen Gu's simply taking a celebratory stroll through the halfpipe, she's still so stylish and makes it look so effortless.

The 18-year-old American-born freestyle skier who represents China captured Olympic gold in the women's halfpipe on a breezy and cold Friday morning to become the first action-sports athlete to pick up three medals at the same Winter Games.

With hands on her hips, Gu visualized her first two runs at the top of the Secret Garden halfpipe course. Then, she flawlessly executed her plan. She warmed up with a 93.25 on her first pass before going even higher and bigger to post a 95.25 on her second.

But this was the sort of run Gu visualized all along — a nice relaxed jaunt as the last competitor and with the contest sealed. She had fun with her victory run, too, going big off the walls one last time and bending back her skis — a high-flying, picture-perfect moment to culminate another successful day at her office.

"I feel at peace. I feel grateful. I feel proud," Gu said.

Figure skating

The fallout from Kamila Valieva's nightmarish free skate will likely reverberate through the figure skating world for a while, but there's one more competition left at the Beijing Games — the pairs short program Americans Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc along with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are competing.

Curling

The U.S. men had their Olympic title defense end with a semifinal loss to Britain. They still have a chance to win the bronze medal when they face Canada.

Speedskating

The men's 1,000-meter speedskating event kicks off early Friday morning.

Here's what to expect on Day 13 of the Beijing Olympic Games:

Hockey

American assistant captain Hilary Knight calls it “a beautiful rivalry.” Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin sums it up as “very fun.”

Don’t be fooled by the pleasantries.

One of international sports’ fiercest and longest-running grudge matches will play out for the second time at the Beijing Olympics, with the next meeting between the United States and Canada determining who goes home with gold.

"These are the the games that we live for," U.S. captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said following a 4-1 semifinal win over Finland. "Everyone’s been so resilient through the pandemic with the ups and downs, the cancellations, postponements and finding ways to train, and it’s for this moment. We’re going to empty the tanks, and this is what we came here to do.”

The U.S. is the defending Olympic champion after rallying to beat Canada 3-2 in a shootout at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The Canadians are considered the favorites this time after steamrolling to a 6-0 record and outscoring opponents 54-8, including a 4-2 win over the U.S. in group play.

Canada also had the edge over its cross-border rivals since Poulin scored the gold-medal-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. at the world championships in August to end the Americans’ streak of five tournament titles. Canada is 5-1-1 in the past seven meetings against the U.S. since.

Overall at the Olympics, which added women’s hockey in 1998, Canada is 6-3 against the U.S., with four gold medals to the Americans’ two.

Figure skating

The women's figure skating event ends early Thursday — the competition portion, at least.

It remains to be seen how much longer it will be adjudicated.

Kamila Valieva is in first place after the short program. That part isn't a surprise — but the 15-year-old Russian's path to this point has been anything but smooth. And there's no indication that will change anytime soon.

Valieva's positive drug test from an event in December put her participation in doubt, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that she could compete while officials conduct a full investigation.

If Valieva finishes in the top three, the International Olympic Committee has said there will be no medals ceremony. The Russians have a chance to sweep the top three spots, with Anna Shcherbakova second and Alexandra Trusova fourth after the short program.

Valieva's free skate is to Maurice Ravel's “Bolero” — a popular skating tune that ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously performed to at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.

Alpine skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin geared up for the Olympic Alpine combined by setting the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday.

The two-time Olympic champion so far has failed to win a medal at the Beijing Games, skiing out in the giant slalom and the slalom — the two events she has gold medals in — and finishing ninth in the super-G and 18th in Tuesday’s downhill.

Next up is the combined race, which adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run.

Shiffrin is the world champion in combined and also won silver in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The 26-year-old Shiffrin is far less experienced in the downhill but finished Wednesday’s training session 0.93 seconds ahead of Wendy Holdener of Switzerland.

Curling

American John Shuster and the defending Olympic curling champions won a last-chance match to qualify for the playoffs at the Beijing Olympics. They beat Denmark 7-5 to keep their hopes of a repeat gold medal alive.

The Americans will play Britain in the semifinals later Thursday night. Reigning silver medalist Sweden will meet Canada, which finished fourth a year ago.

Four years after winning five straight elimination games to take gold -- just the second Olympic curling medal in U.S. history -- Shuster’s foursome was again in a desperate position.

This time there was a twist, though: Even with a loss, they could have made the playoffs if Italy beat Norway. (The Americans beat Norway 7-6 in the round-robin to claim the tiebreaker.)

In the end, Italy lost. The Americans needed to win, and they did.

Speedskating

Brittany Bowe already made a big contribution to the U.S. medal haul when she gave up her spot in the 500 meters so teammate Erin Jackson could compete. Jackson then won the event.

Bowe, a fine skater in her own right, finished 10th in the 1,500 and 16th in the 500. She is the world record holder in the 1,000, which she'll compete in early Thursday morning.

Also of note

Eileen Gu of China, one of the stars of these Olympics, competes in qualifying for the freestyle halfpipe. The men's aerials final is also set for Wednesday night.

Two legal substances used to improve heart function are listed on an anti-doping control form filled out for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva before her drug case at the Olympics erupted, according to documents submitted in her case.

The World Anti-Doping Agency filed a brief in the Valieva case stating that the mention on the form of L-carnitine and Hypoxen, though both legal, undercuts the argument that a banned substance, trimetazidine, might have entered the skater's system accidentally.

Hypoxen, a drug designed to increase oxygen flow to the heart, was a substance the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency recently tried, without success, to get placed on the banned list. L-carnitine, another oxygen-boosting performance enhancer, is banned if injected above certain thresholds. The supplement was the focal point of the doping case involving track coach Alberto Salazar.

Combining those with 2.1 nanograms of trimetazidine, the drug found in Valieva's system after a Dec. 25 test, is “an indication that something more serious is going on,” USADA CEO Travis Tygart said.

“You use all of that to increase performance,” he said. “It totally undermines the credibility” of Valieva's defense.

Two people with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press that a brief seen by AP that was filed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in a hearing on Valieva's case was authentic. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the document was not publicly available. WADA did not immediately respond to an email left by AP asking for comment on the brief.

The brief describes Valieva’s mother as arguing that the skater’s grandfather was a regular user of trimetazidine, which would explain how it got into her system.

WADA said while that explanation involves “some form of exposure” to trimetazidine, it is not an argument that she had taken a “contaminated product,” which can be used as a defense.

In addition, WADA said there was no attempt to argue that the legal substances listed on the form were contaminated, either, so “the athlete necessarily cannot meet the criteria to have her” suspension lifted via the contaminated-product rule.

Valieva's positive test came to light after she had led the Russians to a gold medal in the team skating event last week. Russia's anti-doping agency at first suspended her, then lifted the suspension. That led WADA and the IOC to appeal to CAS, which determined Valieva could skate in the women's event that began Tuesday

Because she is 15, she is considered a “protected person” under anti-doping rules and could escape major sanctions. Her coaches and other members of her entourage are subject to automatic investigation and bigger penalties.

The larger case involving the positive test, and resolving whether Russia will get its gold medal, will be decided later. In the meantime, the IOC has said there will be no medals ceremony for events in which Valieva makes the podium. She's a favorite for gold, and was leading after the short program.

Here's what happened during Day 12 at the Beijing Olympic Games:

Hockey

The United States is out of the men's hockey tournament at the Olympics in stunning fashion after blowing a late lead.

Marek Hrivik scored with 43.7 seconds left in regulation, Peter Cehlarik had the winner and Slovakia beat the U.S. 3-2 in a shootout Wednesday to knock the top-seeded Americans out in the quarterfinals. The U.S. led for almost half the game before the tying goal when Slovakia pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker to play 6-on-5.

The U.S. had gotten accustomed to playing tight games in the tournament, beating Canada by two goals and Germany by one. But blown coverage in front allowed Hrivik to knock a loose puck past goalie Strauss Mann, who was impressive until that point.

Coming up empty on four power plays, including three in the third period, came back to bite the Americans. Matty Beniers hit the post on one of the best scoring chances the U.S. had in the third, but the team could not crack Patrik Rybar, who was playing a second consecutive day in net for Slovakia.

Freestyle Skiing

Freestyler skier Alex Hall led a 1-2 American finish in the men’s Olympic slopestyle competition on Wednesday with a trick on his first run where he stopped his rotation midair and turned in the other direction before softly landing.

Hall’s opening run drew a score of 90.01, which no one could match in three runs. His teammate Nick Goepper turned in a creative run on his second pass to earn silver. Jesper Tjader of Sweden took home bronze.

The American men have captured six of nine Olympic medals since the event made its debut in 2014. Goepper has three of them, adding Wednesday to his silver from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and bronze from the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

“So proud of the boys and so proud of how they skied,” said Skogen Sprang, the head coach of the U.S. freeski slopestyle pro team. “They've put in a ton of work and they stayed true to the way they want to ski and that’s what we’re all about in this sport. ... Landing it when it counts is huge."

BEIJING, Beijing —

There were no tail grabs for this tiger.

French snowboarder Lucile Lefevre was a crowd pleaser at Big Air Shougang all the same.

The 26-year-old helped Beijing ring in the Year of the Tiger by putting on an orange-and-black big-cat costume during qualifying Monday in women's big air and miming a pair of claws while some 20 feet off the ground.

Lefevre decided a year ago that the Beijing Olympics would be her last snowboarding competition, then hurt her knee during last week's slopestyle event. The injury prevented her from trying any tricks coming down the 155-foot big air ramp, but she still wanted to participate.

So she borrowed a head-to-toe tiger suit from Swiss snowboarder Nicolas Huber, giving a little flair to her otherwise straight-forward jumps.

Lefevre took the first of her three runs in her standard French jacket, amusing spectators by waving to cameras instead of performing a trick.

She broke out the tiger jumpsuit for Round 2. Lefevre scratched at the air for that jump, but after watching a replay, she realized the motion just looked funny in mittens. So on her final turn, she waved toward the judges' tower instead.

"It was not super beautiful," she said of her claws. "So I decided for the last one to just say hi to the judges. And especially the French one, because it's a friend of mine."

Asked why Huber had the costume to begin with, Lefevre explained that "he's a crazy man, actually." The 27-year-old Huber has been wearing it for a series of videos on his Instagram, apparently inspired by Lunar New Year celebrations that overlapped with the start of the Winter Games.

"I asked yesterday if he can give it to me for the day, a special day for me," Lefevre said. "And he said 'Yes, of course.'"

Lefevre finished dead last, but that was no bother for a two-time Olympian who never figured on being here.

When she was 3, Lefevre was diagnosed with osteochondrosis, a rare illness that stunts bone growth. She had three operations, and doctors told her sports were off the table.

"I said, 'OK, I just want to do some easy sports,'" she recalled. "And then I tried snowboarding."

She's ranked as high as seventh in the slopestyle World Cup rankings, carving out a career as a pro athlete that her body can't quite sustain anymore.

She wanted to go out with a message: "Right now, there is a lot of problems in the world, and if everyone is peace and easy, the world will be better for sure," she said.

As for what this cat is doing with the next of her nine lives ... Her father, Thierry, owns a sailing school, and she plans to work there during the summer. In the winter, she's hoping to teach snowboarding to youngsters.

First, though, she planned to soak in one last turn in the Olympic spotlight.

"Everyone wants a picture with me," she said.

Lindsey Jacobellis has won her second gold medal of the Olympics, teaming with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross.

The Italian team of Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli came in second and the Canadian duo of Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine finished third.

The 36-year-old Jacobellis took gold earlier this week in the women’s event; it came 16 years after a late showboat move as she was cruising in for an apparent win cost her the title at the Turin Games.

After a slow start, the U.S. now has five gold medals and 11 overall at the Games. Jacobellis accounts for two, while snowboarder Chloe Kim has another. Figure skater Nathan Chen also won a gold medal this week. The U.S. also won a gold medal in mixed team aerials event.

An Olympian from Ukraine made sure people knew what he thought about a potential conflict with Russia.

According to The Associated Press, Vladyslav Heraskevych flashed a sign that said "No War in Ukraine" after his first run in the skeleton event.

Athletes are not allowed to make political statements at the Olympics. However, according to The Guardian, the International Olympic Committee is not taking action because they consider the sign “a general call for peace.”

“It’s my position. Like any normal people, I don’t want war,” Heraskevych said, according to The Associated Press. “I want peace in my country, and I want peace in the world. It’s my position, so I fight for that. I fight for peace.”

Tensions between Ukraine and Russia are high. Officials in the United States believe Russia could invade Ukraine before the Olympics are over.

"We continue to see signs of Russian escalation," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during the White House briefing Friday. "We are in the window where an invasion could happen."

President Joe Biden is reportedly scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in an attempt to prevent a war.

As Olympic athletes competing in skeleton have to keep their heads down, a way to keep creativity, interest and fun high has been with creative helmet designs.

Some, like Ander Mirambell of Spain, slid down the ice with a laser-inspired helmet design. Mirambell competed in a skeleton run in Beijing on Thursday.

Pavel Golovkin/AP

Christopher Grotheer of Germany slid during the competition on Thursday in Beijing with an orange and white version of the German coat of arms on his helmet.

Pavel Golovkin/AP

Katie Uhlaender of the United States took her own patriotic approach with portions of the American flag flying on her helmet with a bald eagle design as she slid down the ice during the women's skeleton run 2 on Friday.

Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

Nicole Silveira of Brazil joined in with the bird theme, this time with a more colorful tropical type from her home country, seen here as she finished the women's skeleton run 2 on Friday in the Yanqing area of Beijing.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

BEIJING —

Mixed team snowboard cross is a variation on that chaotic event that is making its Olympic debut this year.

Each team consists of one man and one woman. The men go first, then the women start in a staggered fashion, based on how the men finished in their race.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men's hockey team faces Canada.

Here are some things to watch:

Snowboarding

Lindsey Jacobellis has won her second gold medal of the Olympics, teaming with 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner for the title in the new event of mixed snowboardcross.

The 36-year-old Jacobellis took gold earlier this week in the women’s event; it came 16 years after a late showboat move as she was cruising in for an apparent win cost her the title at the Turin Games.

After a slow start, the U.S. now has five gold medals and 11 overall at the Games. Jacobellis accounts for two, while snowboarder Chloe Kim has another.

The Italian team of Omar Visintin and Michela Moioli came in second and the Canadian duo of Eliot Grondin and Meryeta O’Dine finished third.

Hockey

Brendan Brisson scored his second goal of the tournament and Strauss Mann made 35 saves to help the United States beat Canada 4-2 in men's hockey at the Olympics.

The young Americans went hit for hit with the bigger, stronger and more experienced Canadians. The victory puts the U.S. in the driver's seat to win the group and earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

Ice Dance

The Americans have a chance to earn two ice dance medals in the same Games for the first time. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue finished fourth at Pyeongchang and second at last year's world championships. Madison Chock and Evan Bates were fourth at worlds.

Four-time world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France are heavy favorites. They finished second in Pyeongchang to Canadian duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who have since retired.

Here's what happened on Day 7 of the Games:

Last hurrah

Japan's Ayumu Hirano has won gold with a boundary-pushing run in the men's halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics. Three-time gold medalist Shaun White was fourth in what he has said would be his final competition.

There was no doubt over the winner after Hirano’s electric performance as the last rider to go. His run included an intricate and unprecedented series of flips and spins that pushed a sport obsessed with progression to new heights. His score of 96 reflected that and the two-time Olympic silver medalist moved past Scotty James of Australia. Jan Scherrer of Switzerland took bronze.

White fell on the final run of a career that’s seen the American star win three Olympic titles. He lifted up his goggles and waved to the crowd on his way down the halfpipe. He teared up as the sparse crowd bid adieu and his fellow riders lined up to hug him.

“I wanted it,” White said. “My legs were giving out on me every hit.”

The stage was being set for some controversy after the second run. James took over the lead with his second attempt. Hirano followed with an impressive run that included the difficult-to-do triple cork, but wasn’t rewarded by the judges. The crowd booed and social media was buzzing.

Alpine skiing

Mikaela Shiffrin completed the super-G at the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a time way out of medal contention — but for the first time in three races at the 2022 Games, she made it to the finish.

The two-time Olympic Alpine gold medalist crossed the line at the bottom of a course known as The Rock with a time of 1 minute, 14.30 seconds. That left her 0.79 seconds behind champion Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland and in ninth place overall after all 44 entrants had taken their turns down the slope.

The 26-year-old American never had entered a super-G at an Olympics before, although she did win a gold in the event at the 2019 world championship and a bronze at last year's worlds.

"I didn't think there was a very big chance to come in and win, or even medal, in this race," Shiffrin said. "It's a really big relief to be here now in the finish. ... I wasn't skiing safe or anything. But I also did get to the finish and that's really nice for my heart to know."

The next women's Alpine event is the downhill on Tuesday. While Shiffrin planned to enter all five individual races in Beijing, it's not known for sure whether that actually will end up happening.

Single elimination

The U.S. women's hockey team faces the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.

BEIJING — Mexico’s one and only figure skater in the Winter Olympics is making history.

22-year-old Donovan Carrillo is Mexico’s male first figure skater since 1992 and only the fourth ever in the country’s Olympic history.

Carrillo is also the first-ever Mexican figure skater to advance to the free skate final.

He performed to a medley of “Black Magic Woman” and “Shake It”, by Santana on Monday.

The figure skater completed a short program with a personal best score of 79.69.

Carrillo told Reuters that this accomplishment is “like a dream come true.”

His journey to the Olympic games hasn’t been easy.

For one, there are no Olympic-sized rinks in Mexico and his local rink in Guadalajara closed when he was 13.

So, he and his coach moved three hours away to León, Guanajuato, where he could train at a miniature rink at a mall.

That means he’s had to maneuver and skate around amateurs and children.

Carrillo also wasn’t allowed to play his own music because he was in a public space.

The Olympian has also struggled financially.

He and his family have crowdfunded about $2,400 so he could continue training.

Eventually, the Mexican government began funding him as an elite athlete.

Carrillo will compete again Wednesday to perform his longer free skate.

He said his goal is to improve and look ahead to the future.

“I think this Olympics – thinking more in the future – are going to be key to prepare myself for the next Olympic cycle, with the main focus on Milan 2026,” he said.

The race is on to snap up scarce 2022 Winter Olympic souvenirs. Dolls of mascot Bing Dwen Dwen, a panda in a winter coat, sold out after buyers waited in line overnight in freezing weather.

People showed up with stools outside the Gongmei Emporium on the Wangfujing pedestrian mall in central Beijing. Some were from a mini-industry of people who are paid to wait in line to buy the latest smartphones and other consumer crazes for clients.

A sign in Gongmei's window said it had 300 Bing Dwen Dwen figures and buyers were allowed one each. It promised more the following day. The official Xinhua News Agency said Olympics organizers have asked factories to make more.

Fans of the mascot have reportedly cheered louder from crowds than cheers heard for athletes competing, CNN reported.

Bing Dwen Dwen, known to some as "BDD," is easily spotted all around Beijing at event sites, in the stands for competitions as well as on signs and flags. Stuffed versions of the mascot are given to medalists, surrounded by a gold wreath, even before athletes receive their medals.

BEIJING, Beijing —

More than 30 athletes at the Beijing Olympics are in isolation facilities after testing positive for the coronavirus, organizers said Tuesday. The average stay in isolation is seven days.

"We will allow as many people out of isolation as we can, but only as many as we can do safely," said Brian McCloskey, chairman of the expert medical panel for the Beijing Games. He said 50 athletes have been discharged and the vast majority of athletes in isolation are well and do not require any medical treatment.

Related video above: Tearful Vincent Zhou withdraws from Olympics due to positive COVID test

The disclosure that 32 athletes are in isolation facilities came after complaints by athletes and teams about inedible food, dirty rooms and a lack of training equipment and internet access. Organizers have acknowledged that isolation is already a difficult situation for athletes — who face the possibility of missing competitions after years of training — and said they were working to quickly address any problems.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, Beijing organizers are requiring everyone in the so-called Olympic bubble to take daily PCR lab tests. Those who are confirmed positive are taken to an isolation facility until they're cleared for discharge with negative tests. People who keep testing positive can also request a review by a medical panel.

McCloskey noted that people who were infected can continue testing positive intermittently for a long time, even if they're not contagious. But he said previously infected people might also be testing positive because they were re-infected, and are able to spread the virus.

"The challenge is to distinguish the two," he said.

Organizers said they expect the number of positive cases to decline as new arrivals into the Olympic bubble taper off, since screening procedures are intended to catch the virus early and prevent it from spreading.

McCloskey noted that everyone in the bubble is being tested and that nearly everyone has been vaccinated.

"I think your chance of picking up COVID in the closed loop is less than anywhere else in the world," he said.

So far, there have been 393 positive cases inside the Olympic bubble. In addition to athletes, the figure includes news media, team officials and others inside the bubble. More than 12,800 people have arrived from outside China for the Olympics.

BEIJING, Beijing —

Marie-Philip Poulin capped a three-goal run by scoring on a penalty shot with 2:35 left in the second period, and Canada upended the defending Olympic champion United States 4-2 on Tuesday to claim the women's hockey tournament's top seed entering the playoff round.

Barring a major upset, the two global hockey powers are expected to meet once more in the gold-medal final next week.

In a fierce rivalry dating to before the women's first Olympic tournament at the 1998 Nagano Games, and won by the Americans, the U.S. and Canada put on yet another entertaining show at the Beijing Games in a fast-paced outing, with both teams trading leads.

Brianne Jenner scored twice, Poulin had a goal and assist and Jamie Lee Rattray also scored for Canada, which improved its Olympic record to 6-3 against the U.S. Anne-Renee Desbiens stopped 51 shots.

Alex Carpenter and Dani Cameranesi scored for the Americans. Maddie Rooney stopped 23 shots in getting her second start of the tournament. She's the most experienced of America's trio, and backstopped the U.S. in the 2018 gold medal-winning game, but missed last year's world championships while recovering from an injury.

Canada (4-0) and the U.S. (3-1) are the tournament's top seeds, and combined to out-score each of their first three opponents by a margin of 47-5. Their quarterfinal matchups won't be set until Finland plays Denmark to determine the Group B standings later in the day.

The game turned in Canada's favor after Cameranesi, who converted her own rebound, and Carpenter, with a backhander on the power play, scored about two minutes apart to put the Americans up 2-1 with 11:34 remaining in the second period.

The Canadians answered 26 seconds later with Sarah Nurse's spin-around backhand pass setting up Jenner for a one-timer in front. Rattray scored the go-ahead goal 2:25 later by tapping in Natalie Spooner's centering pass.

The wheels fell off for the Americans while pressing for the tying goal on the power play. Poulin intercepted Jincy Dunne's pass across the blue line and took off on a breakaway. Poulin's shot was stopped by Rooney, but the Canadian captain was awarded a penalty shot with Cayla Barnes called for hooking.

Poulin, dubbed "Captain Clutch" for scoring Olympic gold-medal-clinching goals in 2010 and 2014, came in from the left side and while driving across the crease flicked the puck inside left post with Rooney already moving the other way.

In out-shooting the Canadians 53-27 overall, the Americans had their share of chances but continued having difficulty finishing, similar to a 5-0 win over the Russian team on Saturday in which the U.S. had a 62-12 shot edge. The U.S. power play unit converted only one of six chances.

The struggles were readily apparent in the opening period, when the Americans had a 14-2 edge in shots before Canada opened the scoring on Jenner's power-play goal 14:10 in. Poulin began the play at the top of the left circle by feeding the puck down low to Sarah Fillier, who immediately centered it to Jenner for a tap-in.

The Americans are the defending Olympic champions following a 3-2 shootout win in 2018, ending Canada's four-tournament run of titles. The Canadians are the defending world champions following a 3-2 overtime win in August, which ended the U.S.'s five-tournament run of titles.

Canada played its third game minus second-line forward Melodie Daoust, who is listed as day to day after being hurt in a tournament-opening 12-1 win over Switzerland. The U.S. is expected to add Britta Curl to its lineup later this week to replace Brianna Decker, who broke her left ankle in the tournament-opening 5-2 win over Finland.

Referee Cianna Lieffers left the game 1:35 into the second period after being struck in the face by American player Amanda Kessel's stick. Lieffers returned later in the period.

BEIJING, Beijing —

Team USA earned its first medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics in snowboarding but it didn't come from reigning two-time Olympic slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson.

Instead, fellow American Julia Marino won the silver, bested in the final moments of the competition by Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand for gold with her best score of 92.88 points.

South Lake Tahoe's Anderson, the favorite to win the event, failed to make the podium and came in 9th place.

The slopestyle snowboard final was a windy Saturday for the 12 women qualifiers, which also included Southern California's Hailey Langland who finished 11th.

The competition is scored by a panel of judges that grade performances based on execution, difficulty, amplitude, variety and progression of the run. The slopes are full of several different features snowboarders can use depending on their creativity.

The format of the final is that the best score of three rounds is the final score.

Tess Coady from Australia won a bronze medal with a score of 84.15 points.

How Anderson fell short

Anderson fell in her first round. By the second round she was in 8th place with a score of 60.78 points, her best of the three rounds, before falling again in her third round.

At Anderson's Olympic debut at the 2014 Sochi Games, she became the first-ever women’s Olympic slopestyle gold medalist. In PyeongChang, she won gold in slopestyle and silver in big air.

She grew up in South Lake Tahoe and said when she got on a snowboard for the first time, "I, like, fell in love with the winter season."

She’s now based in Whistler, a town in British Columbia.

Ahead of taking off for the Olympics, she announced her engagement on social media to Canadian snowboarder Tyler Nicholson.

“What I love about our partnership is that we are willing to work through the challenging and darker times to rise above to the lighter vibrations and in doing so, we are a stronger team!” she wrote.

Dry Beijing barely gets any winter precipitation, making this year's Winter Games the first to rely almost entirely on artificial snow. Organizers are touting the event's green credentials, but experts do worry about the environmental impact of such a massive snowmaking operation given the huge amounts of water and electricity it takes.

At Yanqing north of Beijing, where organizers built the alpine ski venue from scratch, the slopes stand out as ribbons of white contrasting starkly against the surrounding brown hillsides. Snowmakers have also been deployed farther north in Zhangjiakou, which is hosting freestyle skiing, ski jumping and biathlon.

All of it is the product of months of snowmaking using sophisticated European equipment.

Here's a closer look at the Olympic snowmaking operation:

HOW IT WORKS

Natural snow is formed high up in the clouds when water vapor molecules cling to tiny particles like pollen or dust. In scientific lingo, these specks are dubbed nucleators. They create a snow nucleus that then attracts more water molecules to form snowflakes.

Snowmaking equipment tries to duplicate this process, artificially, by spraying atomized water into the air along with mechanically created nucleators -- tiny ice crystals — that act as seeds for the manufactured snowflakes. This process has been around for decades: simulated snow was first used at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

SNOW GUNS

TechnoAlpin won the bid to supply the Beijing games with snowmaking equipment, a contract worth $22 million.

The Italian company has blanketed the slopes with 272 snowmaking fan guns and another 82 stick “lances” to produce “technical snow” for the Winter Olympics skiing and snowboarding venues. They're all hooked up to a system of high pressure pumps and pipes that carry water chilled by cooling towers up the slopes.

TechnoAlpin's fan guns resemble small jet engines or oversized hair dryers, with nozzles spraying either atomized water or ice crystals mounted around the edge of a turbine. The guns, which can be aimed remotely using Bluetooth, blast the mixture dozens of meters into the air to cover broad downhill slopes.

“And while it’s falling to the ground, snow is created,” said Michael Mayr, TechnoAlpin's China sales manager.

Snow lances, meanwhile, are up to 10 meters tall and don't have fans, instead using gravity to carry the snowmaking mixture to the ground, making it a bit more like natural snowfall.

WATER WORRIES

Beijing and Zhanghiakou are both not far from the Gobi Desert and are “highly water stressed," China Water Risk, a Hong Kong-based consultancy, said in a 2019 report.

The International Olympic Committee even noted the issue in its own 2015 evaluation of Beijing’s bid, saying the two districts “have minimal annual snowfall” and that the Winter Games would have to rely completely on fake snow.

The “Beijing – Zhangjiakou area is becoming increasingly arid” because of climate change and other factors, the IOC said, adding that Beijing's bid “underestimated the amount of water" needed for snowmaking.

The Winter Games are expected to use 49 million gallons of water, the equivalent of 74 Olympic swimming pools, to make snow.

SUSTAINABILITY

The IOC now says snowmaking in Beijing was developed “to high technical and environmental standards."

“The regions where the snow sport events will be held are constantly very cold," the IOC said in a statement. “This allows a very efficient snow production and does not require the constant reproduction of snow," like ski resorts elsewhere with fluctuating temperatures that cause snowmelt.

Snowmaking can raise other environmental concerns, including over the chemicals sometimes used to help water freeze at higher temperatures, and the electricity needed to power the systems, which could mean a bigger carbon footprint. The IOC says all venues and facilities are powered by wind and solar energy and that no chemicals are used because of the region's cold temperatures.

“Of course we are using a lot of energy of making snow,” Bernhard Russi, chairman of the International Ski Federation's alpine committee, said at a press briefing Saturday. But he added that the challenge is how to store the snow over the summer for the next season - something already being done in Europe, allowing resorts to save up to half of it.

WHAT THE ATHLETES SAY

Athletes have voiced their concerns about competing on fake snow, saying it brings new risks.

Skiers and experts say manmade snow has more moisture, which means it ices up faster. Estonian Olympic biathlete Johanna Taliharm told the AP last month that artificial snow is “faster and more dangerous" because of the icing.

Russi, the 1972 downhill gold medalist in Japan, acknowledged that “of course ski racers and we organizers, we prefer to have natural snow,” but added that using machines to make snow allows them to get it to the right “hardness” for each discipline.

The IOC said artificial snow is used regularly at World Cup ski competitions and denied that it makes courses more dangerous,. "To the contrary, it creates a more consistent surface from the top to bottom, or start to finish, of a course. "

As the Winter Games begin, Russi said “the snow we find right now on the courses is absolutely perfect, you cannot have it better."

Video above: Olympics give boost to winter sports in China

Not even "The Great Wall” could stave off a piercing, bone-chilling wind.

The snow replica of China’s iconic monument lined the top of the Olympic slopestyle course to cut down on the blustery conditions. All it really did Saturday was provide an eye-catching backdrop.

In gusty conditions that led to arctic-feeling wind chills, two-time defending Olympic champion Jamie Anderson and the rest of the women's snowboarders glided through the rails and jumps — albeit a little chilled — during the qualifying round in the mountains above Beijing.

Some riders wore hand and feet warmers to protect against the elements. Others donned facemasks or neck sleeves to keep the whipping wind at bay.

Nothing fully worked. Not even the protection of “The Great Wall.”

“I like the Great Wall. I do think it's helping a little bit, for sure,” said Anderson, who finished fifth in qualifying to make Sunday's 12-woman final.

Then, she jokingly added: "They need a bigger wall.”

The temperature hovered around 5 degrees F and felt like minus-12 F during the competition. The wind was listed at 13 mph, but the more telling sight may have been a wind sleeve next to the final jump: It was blowing straight out, then sideways, then straight out again.

“It's cold,” Anderson said. “It’s hard to, like, keep your core temperature warm and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating.”

Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand navigated the extreme conditions to turn in qualifying's top score of 86.75. Synnott might just be the biggest challenger to Anderson. She beat Anderson last month at the Winter X Games.

Then again, the wind could play a big role, too. It did four years ago at the Pyeongchang Olympics, when Anderson won her second straight title. It was held in windy, subpar conditions while across the mountain the Alpine race was called off.

Of the elements Saturday, Synnott said: "The wind is a bit tricky. You can feel it sometimes when you’re on the course, but not enough to throw you off your game. You just have to really adapt.”

That's what Hailey Langland did after wiping out on her first run. With hand warmers stuffed in her gloves and feet warmers in her boots, Langland blocked the wind out of her mind and just went for it.

“It's gnarly because the wind gusts, they’re no longer coming straight downhill. They’re now starting to swirl in between the jumps and in the rails and starting to come uphill,” said Langland, who finished ninth in qualifying. “That can really deter your gauge of what speed you should be taking into these features, which can cause, obviously, some really bad consequences.”

Another challenge were some of the jumps with approaches that were angled into the kickers instead of straight-on. They’re unlike most jumps riders spring off in other contests, but this style was featured four years ago in South Korea.

“I’m starting to get used to it more," said Julia Marino, who was sixth to advance.

Not so much the snow under their snowboards, though. The machine-made snow had a different feel, especially on a fall. Anderson said she had a bruise to show for the snow that felt — as Marino described — like concrete.

“I’m impressed that they did it,” Anderson said of the manmade snow. “But, damn, it’s like not that enjoyable to ride on.”

To keep warm before her run, Langland also bundled up in a giant parka. As for those warmers she just started to use, she had a description for them: “Life-changing,” she joked.

Tess Coady of Australia wore a dark facemask under her helmet, along with dark lenses in her goggles.

“Intimidation,” cracked Coady, who finished eighth. “It’s so cold. My nose is like dying.”

For Enni Rukajarvi, this felt almost balmy compared to what it's like back home in Finland.

“Somehow it feels warmer here than in Finland,” Rukajarvi said after taking third in qualifying. “When it's minus-20 in Finland, it’s way colder.”

Marino didn't even feel the cold on her final run, she said, simply because she was so focused after a mistake on her first attempt.

“I just wanted to make it to the end of the course,” said Marino, who hung out in the athletes' lounge at the top to stay warm before her run. “I did not look at the flags at all. I was just like, ‘I’m going to go for my run no matter what. I don’t care about the wind. I’m going throw down what I came here to throw down.’”

Adrenaline fueled that second run. Then, a blast of reality hit in the finish area.

“I’m starting to feel (the cold)," Marino said.

ZHANGJIAKOU, China —

This really is it for Shaun White.

The three-time gold medalist made it clear that not only will the Beijing Games be his last Olympics, they'll mark his final contest, too.

During a reflective, sometimes emotional news conference Saturday, not far from the halfpipe where he'll take his last competitive ride, the 35-year-old said that, yes, he'll be hanging 'em up for good after the medal round next week.

"In my mind, I've decided this will be my last competition," he said.

It's a decision that's been building since a soul-sucking training stop in Austria in November. He was dealing with nagging remnants from injuries to his knee ... and back ... and ankle. He got lost on the mountain with the sun going down. It was one of those rare times when snowboarding didn't feel fun anymore.

"A sad and surreal moment," he called it. "But joyous, as well. I kind of reflected on things I've done and looked at the sun going down and went, 'Wow, next time I'm here, I won't be stressed about learning tricks or worried about some competition thing.'"

He is soaking in every moment on this fifth trip to the Olympics, and over his 45-minute session with the media, he fielded an equal number of questions about his past as about what's to come over the next seven days and beyond.

"I have some runs in my head that I'd like to do," he said. "And it's all about visualizing and making that happen the 'day of.'"

Though he refused to take it off the table, those runs probably will not include a triple cork — the three-flip trick that Ayumu Hirano of Japan has landed twice in competition this season, but has not won with, because he could not link another trick to it.

Back in 2013, White worked on that trick for a time. Then, a different jump — the double cork 1440 — became the hottest thing in the halfpipe, so he abandoned the triple to work on that. The rest is history: The 1440 was not enough for him to win in Sochi, but four years ago in Pyeongchang, he linked two of them back to back and took his third gold medal.

"I'd never done that combination of tricks before and just put it down to win," White said. "I mean, it's a legacy performance."

His legacy goes well beyond that.

By making a choice that was unpopular in many circles — embracing competition, and embracing the Olympics — he took the entire sport with him and made the whole endeavor more mass-marketable, in large part because every sport needs a star.

He also set the bar in a game that treasures progression above all else. In 2006, he was the first man to land back-to-back 1080s. In 2010, it was the Double McTwist 1260 — "The Tomahawk," he calls it; it's a trick that's still relevant today.

Though others started landing the 1440 and linking two together before him, White did it best, and when the stakes were the highest.

But when asked what would suffice as a "good" Olympics this time around, he wasn't talking about 1440s or triple corks or gold medals.

This has been a rough season for him — including an ankle injury, a bout with COVID-19, a late unscheduled trip to Switzerland to secure his Olympic spot and, most recently, a training plan that got thrown off schedule during his stay in Colorado in January.

"I approach every competition as, you've got to be content with your own riding," White said. "And as long as you can go out there and put down your best, and lay it out there, then you can walk away, and in your mind, be good with that."

White says he's toggling between trying to enjoy every moment of the last big contest week of his life and knowing there is work to do when the halfpipe opens for training Sunday.

"I'm sort of pinching myself, with how lucky I am to still be here at this age," he said.

But it's hard not to look back. He told about how when he was a kid, everything he did, day in and day out, was wrapped around snowboarding. "I don't know how many kids out there aspire to be a cowboy and then really get to be a cowboy," he said.

Asked what headline he would put on his career, he said he looks back at the kid he was and thinks the perfect line would be: "We did it!'"

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scenes on social media echoed on state media, 400 busses carrying 9000 people to isolation zones in the last days. As frustrated as you'd imagine there's no food. This man says I have kids, there are old people. Why don't we isolate in our homes, Sequestered in gyms for two weeks? Not infected, Just those who live in what's classified as a high risk part of Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people with roughly 100 active cases. The heaviest of hands crushing the virus is spread immediately. How far does that go? Listen to a Beijing or who told our colleague working outside the closed olympic gloopy That he has just been released from quarantine because my wife and the first person infected with our Mekong in Beijing worked in the same building. I was isolated at home for 14 days. It's very uncomfortable. It's a nasal swab test and an anal swab test every two days. It's very uncomfortable. You heard him anal swabbing, thought to be more accurate at spotting covid. This is all perhaps shocking to an outsider. But Canadian Jonathan cheung, the china bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal explains china's leadership sees no other way. They'll say okay, you talk about freedom in the west in china. Um We emphasize life and we emphasize protecting our people and freedom has gotten you how many hundreds of thousands, how many millions dead? How many millions sick? Um here in china what we're doing is the responsible thing and so pop up mass testing and electronic tracking show a health code app to do everything, get a cab, go to a restaurant. It flashes green and people like 22 year old Bartender who all going along can proceed. And much of China does just carry on. That's a good thing, he says. But doesn't mean there aren't costs many people who are away from home can't get back. There are some local governments that might arbitrarily impose quarantine policies hard and fast. If you're jumping, you look at this and you say, well, we can't relent. We can't give up like the other countries or other zero covid countries in this part of the world. Many of them have given up and many of them have now seen cases break out there as well. The era of omicron maybe changing the covid story around the world, But china is not budging throwing everything it has at being right. The costs of being wrong too high to consider. Mm hmm.

'Within our expectations': As Beijing Games get going, new positive COVID cases reported

Updated: 2:21 AM EST Feb 5, 2022

A total of 45 new positive tests for COVID-19 have been announced by organizers of the Beijing Olympics.Athletes and officials account for 25 of the cases, with 20 detected in people arriving at the airport in Beijing and five more in daily PCR tests taken by everyone at the games.The 20 other cases involved people working at the games, including media, with six at the airport and 14 inside the Olympic bubbles.Organizing committee official Huang Chun says the numbers are “within our expectations.”A drop in cases is expected in the days ahead as fewer people arrive for the games and those inside the bubbles have already returned several days of negative tests.The overall total of COVID-19 cases at the games is 353 since Jan. 23. More than 12,000 people have arrived from outside China.

BEIJING —

A total of 45 new positive tests for COVID-19 have been announced by organizers of the Beijing Olympics.

Athletes and officials account for 25 of the cases, with 20 detected in people arriving at the airport in Beijing and five more in daily PCR tests taken by everyone at the games.

The 20 other cases involved people working at the games, including media, with six at the airport and 14 inside the Olympic bubbles.

Organizing committee official Huang Chun says the numbers are “within our expectations.”

A drop in cases is expected in the days ahead as fewer people arrive for the games and those inside the bubbles have already returned several days of negative tests.

The overall total of COVID-19 cases at the games is 353 since Jan. 23. More than 12,000 people have arrived from outside China.