Renata Fast and Emma Maltais play during training for the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team on Wednesday. The team’s game against Finland was postponed after several Finnish players contracted norovirus.Susana Vera/Reuters
It’s not often that Olympic events are cancelled or postponed. There are just too many logistical headaches that arise at an event of this scale and complexity to go messing around with the schedule on short notice.
Fans have flown in from all over the world, tickets have been sold, athletes have trained for years. The stakes are high.
But the decision by organizers of the Milan Cortina Winter Games to postpone the Canadian women’s hockey game against Finland, after several Finnish players came down with norovirus, a form of serious stomach flu, will no doubt cast some added stress over the women’s hockey tournament.
Everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Winter Games
An outbreak of this nature can be effectively contained among teams and within the athletes’ village without matters getting out of hand. If it spreads, though, like norovirus has been known to do on cruise ships and other crowded, contained spaces, the Olympics would have a much bigger problem on its hands.
Which is to say, the fact that organizers moved so quickly to shut down Canada’s game against the Finns about 14 hours before it was to be played, should indicate the level of concern at play. The match has been postponed – for now – until next Thursday.
The problem emerged on Wednesday when four Finnish players had to be isolated after coming down with signs of stomach flu. The situation worsened overnight to the point that Finland, which won the bronze medal in 2022, was contemplating forfeiting the match before organizers stepped in.
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On Thursday morning, the Milan Cortina organizing committee issued a joint statement with the International Olympic Committee, the International Ice Hockey Federation, Team Finland and Team Canada, announcing the game would not go ahead. The number of signatories on that press release alone is a clue of how seriously the situation is being viewed.
“The decision was taken following consultations with medical professionals after cases of norovirus were identified within Team Finland,” the statement said.
“It was made collectively and in accordance with established health and safety principles, with the health and well-being of players, team staff, officials and all tournament participants as the highest priority.”
Finland was facing a depleted roster and the challenge of playing with a shortened bench. Only 10 players were able to practise, including eight skaters and two goalies. The other 13 players are in quarantine or isolation.
Finland head coach Tero Lehtera said the first signs of the illness emerged Tuesday night after the team practised.
“Most of them are getting better but not healthy enough to play,” Lehtera told reporters. “And there’s the chance that if we would play it could influence Team Canada and their health as well.”
Team Canada general manager Gina Kingsbury told reporters Thursday night that officials from the Finnish team reached out to her to explain the situation.
She said the postponement decision was made in the spirit of the Olympics and also to ensure Canadian players weren’t needlessly exposed. Kingsbury said the idea of forfeiting wasn’t discussed during a conference call held Thursday morning with Olympic officials and representatives from the Finnish program.
The game was to have opened the Olympics for both teams. If the illness dissipates without further incident, tournament organizers can claim a major victory even before the first puck was dropped for either country.
Canada, the defending gold medal winner from Beijing 2022, will now play its first game Saturday against Switzerland.
“While all stakeholders recognize the disappointment of not playing the game as originally scheduled, this was a responsible and necessary decision that reflects the spirit of the Olympic Games and the integrity of the competition,” the joint statement said.
Finnish defenceman Jenni Hiirikoski said the team is trying to stay calm and focused on their coming games, hoping the affected players recover quickly.
“It’s not nice, definitely. But we try to focus one day at a time,” said Hiirikoski, Finland’s captain. “I think we try to help each other, whatever it is, and how it goes.”
The Olympics are no stranger to the risk of outbreaks, having held two of them during the pandemic, the Tokyo Summer Games in 2021 and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
Both events showed that a Games could be held without major viral outbreaks getting out of control. However, those events were conducted much differently than the Games in Milan, with fewer or no fans at events, strict quarantine measures and mandatory testing at the athletes’ village in China and Japan.
Those were unusual and historic circumstances. After the Paris Summer Games in 2024, the Olympics are back to more normal times. And norovirus is much different than the COVID-19 pandemic. But the lessons of those days remain. And it became evident on Thursday that organizers and the teams don’t want to take any chances.
With reports from Associated Press