Olympics Live: White House supports Team USA despite boycott – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

BEIJING (AP) — The Latest on the Beijing Winter Olympics:

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wore a Team USA pin and brought a Team USA water bottle to the daily White House briefing.

She noted that the administration did not send a diplomatic delegation to the Olympics because of the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”

“At the same time, we wanted to note that Team USA has our full support. We’re behind them. We’re watching from home. We want to thank them and their families for everything they’ve sacrificed over the course of time.”

Psaki described herself as a “Olympics-obsessed person,” and she mentioned figure skater Nathan Chen — “we’re going to watch him” — snowboarder Chloe Kim and skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who fell in her first event, the giant slalom, and was disqualified, but expects to compete in additional races.

A second Finland men’s hockey player has been taken to an isolation hotel after testing positive for the coronavirus in Beijing.

Goaltender Jussi Olkinuora has joined forward Marko Anttila in isolation. The Finnish Olympic Committee confirmed Olkinuora was taken Monday and that Anttila remains there.

A spokesman for the Finnish Olympic Committee says Olkinuora and Anttila recovered from COVID-19 last month and tested negative to travel to Beijing. Neither Olkinuora nor Anttila have reported any symptoms.

The Finnish Olympic Committee is unsure when either player could be released. The team plays its first game Thursday.

More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports