Some countries fear espionage at the Beijing Olympics. They give athletes spare phones

The German Olympic Sports Confederation recommends that its representatives use phones that are specially designed for the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the faz.net web portal, the reason is fear of espionage. At the same time, Germany is not the only country that has similar concerns.

Germans, British and Dutch do not recommend using private phones

The organizers of the Olympic Games must install an application called “My2022” for members of each national team. In this way, participants will prove their health data as a negative result of a pre-flight coronavirus PCR test and will also be used for daily temperature recording.

That is why the German Olympic Sports Confederation recommends bringing an alternative telephone to the Beijing Olympics and not its own. She’s worried about espionage. If the competitor wants to install the application from his own smartphone, the confederation does not see a problem in this, provided that the person in question uses it outside of China.

The problem can allegedly occur only when a phone with this application connects to the Internet in China. The Germans are not the only nation to fear espionage. The British Olympic Association strongly encourages athletes not to take their personal phones to China at all.

The Netherlands is even more radical

The Dutch think similarly. They recommend that you do not bring any personal phone or computer to China. The Dutch representatives will be offered backup equipment, which will be destroyed at the end of the competition.

Of course, we do not know whether the concerns are justified. But it is interesting to see how sports organizations try to keep their representatives in cyber security. Finally, we mention that there is a smartphone that has a special theme of the Olympic Games. This is a limited Samsung Galaxy S21, designed for participants of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.