A14| Thursday, February 27, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
versity of Birmingham.
Chinese sports authorities also
got lucky on timing. The virus’s
spread accelerated when many
athletes were already in place for a
final pre-Olympics winter training
session, often held in special iso-
lated locations, Chen said, making
it fairly easy to turn those into
closed camps and to avoid any un-
necessary contact with the outside
world.
The women’s soccer team,
though missing their star and oth-
ers, was able to make it to Austra-
lia before the country banned trav-
elers who had been in China in the
past 14 days. They were quaran-
tined in a Brisbane hotel for a
week before being able to compete
in Sydney, where the team placed
second to advance to the final
round. Like other Chinese teams
abroad, the team has extended its
training program outside of China,
and the team is set to play its
“home game” against South Korea
in Australia in March.China’s gymnastics team hasn’t
been so lucky. Gymnasts had to
withdraw from a World Cup event
in Melbourne because of coronavi-
rus-related travel restrictions.
After training in isolation in
Beijing, the gymnasts relocated to
Qatar to prepare for more events
that could allow individuals to
qualify for the Tokyo Games, Peo-
ple’s Daily reported.
Among the other Chinese Olym-
pic teams training outside of the
country are the table tennis and
badminton squads.
China has plenty of experience
training its athletes abroad. For
example, the swim team does
some of its training in Australia,
and Sun Yang’s gold medals at the
2012 Olympics in London, the first
for a Chinese male swimmer,
should be credited to that training
and foreign coaches, said Chen, the
Olympic expert. Now, Sun is train-
ing in his hometown of Hangzhou,
state broadcaster China Global
Television Network said earlierBYERINMENDELLHong KongT
he Chinese women’s
national soccer team
is training for the To-
kyo Olympics in Aus-
tralia. But its star
player, Wang Shuang,
is practicing alone on a rooftop in
the central Chinese city of Wuhan,
the epicenter of the coronavirus,
where she is under quarantine.
The women’s team was sched-
uled to play in an Olympics quali-
fier in Wuhan earlier this month,
but after the coronavirus fears
erupted, the competition was
moved to another Chinese city be-
fore eventually winding up in Syd-
ney. When the team departed Wu-
han on Jan. 22, Wang, who is from
there, and three other players—
two based in Wuhan and one in
the hard-hit province of Zhejiang—
weren’t among them. The city was
locked down Jan. 23.
The Chinese Football Associa-
tion says Wang and the others had
to stay home so as not to poten-
tially spread the epidemic further.
Wang’s rooftop practice ses-
sions, which she has posted to her
social media, are among the ways
Chinese athletes have had their
Olympic preparations thrown into
turmoil by the coronavirus, which
has infected more than 80,
people and killed more than 2,
since it emerged in Wuhan late
last year.
In recent weeks, Chinese sports
officials have attempted to keep
their best athletes’ training on
track amid the virus epidemic. Its
efforts come as an International
Olympic Committee official this
week for the first time raised the
possibility that the Tokyo Games
could be canceled or postponed
because of coronavirus.
For China, training has been a
challenge. In central Hubei prov-
ince, of which Wuhan is the capi-
tal, nearly 60 million people are
under quarantine, and travel for
the hundreds of millions of others
across the country has been heav-
ily restricted. Elsewhere, several
governments have banned travel-
ers who have been in China, forc-
ing China to figure out how to
keep its athletes healthy and able
to train, as well as to travel for
competition.
China’s government agency
overseeing sports, the General Ad-
ministration of Sports, says that it
has focused on having Chinese
Olympic athletes train either over-
seas or in isolation, and kept in
quarantine -- including coaches,
athletes and cooking and cleaning
staff.
The highly centralized nature of
China’s elite sports programs, sup-
ported heavily by government
funding, have allowed China to
move quickly on both options, says
Shushu Chen, an expert on China
FROM TOP: WANG SHUANG; PATRICK B. KRAEMER/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCKand the Olympics at the U.K.’s Uni-
BACK TO THE GRIND| By Sam Buchbinder
Across
1 Belong
6 The shakes,
briefly
9 Tombstone name
14 Longtime “All My
Children” role
15 Nostalgist’s focus
16 Closing section
of music
17 Major fashion city
18 Lost pet
identifier, at
times
20 Three-color
sucker
22 Abe Beame’s
successor
23 Freebie at many
hotels
25 Marsellus’s wife,
in “Pulp Fiction”26 Olympus Mons
setting
29 Gave up
30 Exploit
31 Survey question
that may have
a “Prefer not to
answer” choice
32 Gives the green
light
33 Banks on a
runway
35 With 37-Across,
living room items
found four times
in this puzzle
37 See 35-Across
41 Contributes
43 Bound
44 Its species is
Cervus
canadensis45 Memo abbr.
48 World Court site,
with “The”
50 More than
inquisitive
51 Spike with a
screenplay
Oscar
52 Fellow who’s a
follower
54 Summer drink
56 French meat-
and-vegetables
dish
60 Siamese
caretaker
62 Basketball
strategy
63 Uma’s “Gattaca”
co-star
64 Merlin Olsen,
for 15 yearsTheWSJDailyCrossword|Edited by Mike Shenk
12345 678 910111213
14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22
23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30
31 32 33 34
35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44
45 46 47 48 49 50
51 52 53
54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 62
63 64 65
66 67 68Previous Puzzle’s Solutions
Solve this puzzle online and discuss it atWSJ.com/Puzzles.PLOPS L IPS CCS
OSMI UM OMI T HEN
TANGLE NAVYS I LL
STILLMAGNOLIAS
AYES TEN
QU I T SPA GASP
UNDI ES I SAW SEL
ICANTFILLMYFACE
DUH COLA PO I NTB
STOP KFC EASE
IAN OVEN
KINDOFABIGDILL
KIDSMILL ORILEY
EWE AS I A L E S SON
G I S NETS THANX65 W.C. Fields
persona
66 Forward
thinkers?
67 Beehive State
native
68 Site of Darth
Vader’s funeral
pyre
Down
1 Govt. org. in
2005 headlines
2 Apt name for a
botanist
3 Pinball no-no
4 Maker of an
ill-fated flight
5 Small iPods
6 Takes a stripe
from, perhaps
7 Canon supporter
8 Fly type
9 Friend of Buzz
10 “Gross!”
11 Comfortable
12 Daughter of Pat
and Dick
13 Mr. Peanut
sports one
19 Like some quick
meals
21 Was armed
24 Tigers, on
scoreboards
26 Fella
27 Back28 Play reviewer
30 Awesome, briefly
32 British ref. work
34 Drake’s forte
36 Summer cooler
38 Summer sign
39 Two-time British
Open winner
40 Setting of the
sun
42 Exam for srs.
43 “Just act like I’m
right...”
45 “___ Restaurant”
46 Beer from
Mexico
47 Go from 0 to 20,
inaway
49 View with
disbelief
50 Impulse
transmitter
52 Some 1960s
protests
53 Slip
55 Nicholas II, for
one
57 More than a tiff
58 Brand with tiger
ads
59 One logging in
61 1989 Broadway
play set in a
writer’s New
York apartmentWeather
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.City Hi LoW Hi LoW City Hi Lo W Hi Lo WToday Tomorrow Today TomorrowCity Hi LoW Hi LoWAnchorage 21 7 c 16 2 c
Atlanta 47 33 s 53 35 pc
Austin 62 33 s 70 38 s
Baltimore 44 28 pc 45 27 pc
Boise 54 31 s 60 37 s
Boston 53 31 r 42 29 c
Burlington 41 21 r 29 15 c
Charlotte 51 29 s 52 33 sh
Chicago 32 18 pc 32 18 pc
Cleveland 29 20 sf 29 19 sf
Dallas 61 38 s 66 41 s
Denver 4527pc 5330s
Detroit 28 18 sf 29 16 c
Honolulu 80 69 pc 80 67 pc
Houston 58 37 s 70 44 s
Indianapolis 33 22 pc 33 17 pc
Kansas City 49 29 pc 53 31 pc
Las Vegas 70 49 pc 71 51 pc
Little Rock 52 37 s 58 36 c
Los Angeles 86 61 pc 83 56 pc
Miami 70 48 c 69 47 s
Milwaukee 29 17 c 28 17 c
Minneapolis 27 17 c 29 17 s
Nashville 46 33 s 41 32 sn
New Orleans 56 39 s 65 47 s
New York City 46 29 pc 39 29 pc
Oklahoma City 59 34 pc 64 37 pcOmaha 45 27 c 50 28 c
Orlando 62 39 s 65 44 s
Philadelphia 44 28 pc 43 27 pc
Phoenix 76 51 pc 80 54 pc
Pittsburgh 29 20 sf 33 16 sf
Portland, Maine 45 26 r 37 23 pc
Portland, Ore. 61 37 s 59 39 pc
Sacramento 77 44 pc 75 49 pc
St. Louis 45 30 s 44 27 pc
Salt Lake City 51 30 pc 56 38 s
San Francisco 73 51 pc 70 50 pc
Santa Fe 52 24 s 55 29 pc
Seattle 57 37 pc 54 40 c
Sioux Falls 33 25 c 38 26 c
Wash., D.C. 45 31 s 47 29 rAmsterdam 39 37 r 46 40 pc
Athens 65 47 c 60 48 s
Baghdad 70 47 pc 72 49 pc
Bangkok 93 79 c 93 79 pc
Beijing 44 27 c 50 33 pc
Berlin 42 33 sh 44 34 pc
Brussels 37 33 sn 44 40 r
Buenos Aires 82 69 s 84 68 s
Dubai 77 66 pc 79 65 pc
Dublin 43 36 pc 50 39 r
Edinburgh 43 34 pc 44 37 rFrankfurt 40 32 r 43 38 pc
Geneva 43 31 sn 47 38 pc
Havana 75 59 c 70 58 c
Hong Kong 74 65 pc 75 68 sh
Istanbul 63 45 sh 54 41 c
Jakarta 86 78 t 86 78 sh
Jerusalem 63 49 pc 64 45 s
Johannesburg 85 64 pc 80 56 t
London 43 34 sn 51 48 r
Madrid 65 35 s 67 43 c
Manila 90 73 pc 88 73 s
Melbourne 70 56 pc 67 53 c
Mexico City 74 49 s 77 48 s
Milan 55 37 c 60 35 pc
Moscow 38 30 r 36 28 c
Mumbai 95 75 pc 91 76 pc
Paris 54 35 r 49 46 r
Rio de Janeiro 78 71 t 77 72 c
Riyadh 76 49 pc 80 56 pc
Rome 57 51 pc 63 43 pc
San Juan 84 73 s 85 73 pc
Seoul 50 34 pc 45 35 r
Shanghai 56 48 pc 59 51 r
Singapore 89 78 pc 88 77 pc
Sydney 7664pc 7668s
Taipei City 73 66 c 82 64 pc
Tokyo 50 38 s 50 43 pc
Toronto 27 18 sf 26 9 sn
Vancouver 50 39 c 50 39 c
Warsaw 4029sh 4131c
Zurich 42 31 sn 45 37 rToday TomorrowU.S. Forecasts
International
City Hi Lo W Hi Lo Ws...sunny; pc... partly cloudy; c...cloudy; sh...showers;
t...t’storms; r...rain; sf...snow flurries; sn...snow; i...ice
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VegasSeattleBoiseDenverMpls./St. PaulSt. LouisChicagoWashington D.C.BostonCharlestonMilwaukee HartfordWichitaIndianapolisClevelandBuffaloAustinHelena
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20s20s20s10s0s50s80sthis month. The swimmer’s future
in the sport is in jeopardy as he
awaits a decision on doping from
the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Fellow swimmer and Hangzhou
native Fu Yuanhui, known for her
lively personality as well as her
backstroke, is also practicing in
that city, according to her official
social media. She posts about her
solo training, missing her team
and being proud of her homemade
bread. “Do you guys cook at home?
I couldn’t, but now I think I’m tal-
ented in cooking! LOL,” she wrote.
A third part of China’s plan is
working with international sports
federations to ensure their ath-
letes can compete, according to
the General Administration of
Sport, though there might not be
much they can do about the travel
restrictions.
“They will almost certainly have
to accept that some athletes who
might otherwise have been com-
peting in Tokyo will have to miss
out,” said Brian Bridges, an affili-
ate fellow at the Centre for Asian
Pacific Studies at Lingnan Univer-
sity in Hong Kong.
In some cases, China has aban-
doned its Tokyo Olympic hopes al-
together. The women’s handball
team, for instance, withdrew from
a qualifying competition in Hun-
gary because of the virus. But a
lack of medal potential may have
played into it, Chen said: “Let’s
face it, we haven’t had any gold
medals in handball, like ever.”
—Zhao Yueling in Shanghai
contributed to this article.Virus Alters Olympic Prep
Chinese officials have attempted to keep their athletes’ training on track amid the epidemic
Indianapolis
THE NFL AND ITS PLAYERS
areonthevergeofagreeingto
a new, decade-long collective
bargaining agreement after a
tense sequence of events over
the past week that left the bil-
lionaires who run the league
anxious and the millionaires
who play inside it preparing for
the possibility of a labor war.
But those fears were allayed
after a four-hour meeting here
when NFL owners met with
player leadership in a room
that included the likes of super-
stars Aaron Rodgers and Rich-
ard Sherman along with influ-
ential owners including Robert
Kraft and Jerry Jones. After the
owners left, many of them fur-
tively through a side exit, the
players had another four-hour
meeting and took a critical step
forward by voting to send the
new agreement to their full
membership for a vote.
The union’s full membership
will vote on the agreement in
the coming weeks.
The deal, which was already
approved by ownership last
week, could have dramatic ram-
ifications for a league that al-
ready raked in around $16 bil-
lion in revenue last year. It
paves the way for the NFL to
add a 17th regular-season game
as soon as 2021—one more
than is currently played—in a
bet that fans and media part-
ners want even more of the
uber-popular product.
The agreement also ad-
dresses issues such as the pen-
sions retired players receive,
minimum salaries and the share
of the league’s revenue that
players will receive, which
would rise from roughly 47% to
at least 48%. That figure could
grow even higher if and when
the 17th game is added.
The deal also removes some
personal conduct disciplinary
power from commissioner
Roger Goodell, a process that
has chafed players who see it
as draconian.EZRA SHAW/GETTY IMAGESBYANDREWBEATONThe NFL
Is Close to
Labor Deal
Richard Sherman and Aaron
Rodgers met with NFL owners.In this screenshot of a video posted
to Weibo, Chinese soccer star Wang
Shuang, above, practices on a rooftop
in Wuhan. Swimmer Fu Yuanhui, left,
says she is training solo in Hangzhou.SPORTS