Workforce USA reportedly tells athletes to not take their telephones to Winter Olympics

US athletes heading to the Winter Olympics subsequent month in Beijing have reportedly been advised to go away their private telephones behind amid safety considerations. 

Workforce USA has inspired People competing within the video games to as an alternative take burner telephones to stop potential surveillance, in keeping with a Friday report from The Wall Avenue Journal.

Workforce USA and the Worldwide Olympic Committee did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

The report comes after the Biden administration in December confirmed that no US officers will attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, staging a diplomatic boycott in opposition to China’s human rights violations.

“The Biden administration won’t ship any diplomatic or official illustration to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Video games, given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity in Xinjiang and different human rights abuses,” press secretary Jen Psaki mentioned throughout a press briefing in December. “The athletes on Workforce USA have our full help.”

The Winter Olympic Video games kick off on Feb. 4 and embody seven new sports activities like monobob — a women- solely bobsled competitors.

Learn extra: Find out how to watch the Beijing Winter Olympics: Every little thing to know