From COVID-19 to possible boycott, Beijing 2022 brings a new experience for athletes

Every Olympics is different.

It's a refrain echoed by many, and one Canadian speed skater Gilmore Junio said he was taught early in his career.

It's also truer than ever with Beijing 2022 set to be contested in February amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and murmurs of a boycott.

Calgary's Junio, 31, previously competed at the 2014 and 2018 Olympics, notching a 10th-place finish in the men's 500 metres in the former.

But for Beijing, Junio is focused on the big picture. 

"A little more calmness in it. A little more just I want to enjoy it, have a little more gratitude for the career I've had," he said. 

"And with being older, I think I take a little bit more responsibility of being a representative of the Asian-Canadian community on the Olympic team and on the speed skating team."

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Para nordic athlete Mark Arendz is headed to his fourth Paralympics after debuting at Vancouver 2010. The 31-year-old has eight medals to his name, including a gold among six in Pyeongchang.

"This has been a really different quad[rennial], just a little bit more changing on the fly and adapting and I think it's been really good to use some of the previous experience to adapt and apply that to the pandemic," Arendz said.

Instead of lamenting what was lost with the virus, Arendz said he was grateful for the chance to train at home and cut back on travel to be at his healthiest come Beijing.

He also kept an eye on Tokyo 2020.

"It was just still all about the performance process and that was going to come. The atmosphere, if you're on, it's there in the background but it's not that significant for myself as an athlete," Arendz said.

That atmosphere will be amongst the biggest changes from previous Games, as only Chinese spectators are allowed to attend. That means family and friends of Canadian athletes are stuck watching from home.