GLIMPSES: Connections forged in shared chills at Olympics

By ADAM SCHRECK
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Foreign visitors at the Beijing Olympics are strictly segregated from the public under China’s zero-tolerance virus containment strategy. They are in China but have little access to the country or its people. The thousands of mostly young volunteers working in and around the venues are some of the only Chinese people they’ll meet here, often in fleeting exchanges. Masked smiles and hand gestures help overcome the language barriers. AP photographer Alessandra Tarantino says the volunteers have been “so nice and kind” and helpful. She encountered one standing alone, bundled against the cold, and photographed her close up — a mask under eyes and framed with gold-tinted hair.