Day 3 of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) figure skater Kamila Valieva became the first woman to land a quad at the Winter Olympics, securing a gold medal for herself and the ROC in the team event.

Valieva, 15, finished first in the women's free skating team event, giving the ROC figure skating team a maximum 10 points.

That meant the ROC had a winning total of 74 points from the combined events, which included pair skating, ice dance, and the men and women's single skate.

It's the ROC’s second gold of Beijing 2022 and its sixth medal overall.

The United States won silver with 65 points and Japan took bronze. 

What is the ROC? It stands for the Russian Olympic Committee, and it's essentially a loophole that allows Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics while their country is banned from the Games because of a doping scandal.

The team still bears the country's colors of white, blue and red, but instead of Russia's flag, the team's flag features its colors in an Olympic flame placed above the five Olympic rings. 

American figure skater Vincent Zhou has tested positive for Covid-19 and may not be able to compete in the men's short program on Tuesday, according to US Figure Skating.

As per the rules of the Beijing 2022 Playbook, Zhou will need to test negative to compete in the men’s single skating short program, which begins Tuesday.

China's strict and often cumbersome Covid protocols are designed to keep athletes, officials, journalists and volunteers safe inside the "closed loop system" of Beijing's Olympic bubble.

And outside the bubble, the Chinese government continues to impose harsh restrictions on citizens in a bid to pursue its zero-Covid strategy of managing the pandemic.

City locked down: On Monday, the southwestern city of Baise imposed a citywide lockdown, which requires 3.5 million residents to stay home.

All venues and businesses apart from essential services will be closed and public transport temporarily suspended. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes unless for grocery shopping or to take a Covid-19 test.  

The citywide lockdown came into effect after Baise identified 98 preliminary positive Covid-19 cases during mass testing on Sunday, according to statements by local authorities. The government said most of the cases are under review for confirmation.

The lockdown is the latest imposed by China on an entire city, an anti-epidemic tactic first employed during the original outbreak in Wuhan two years ago.

More recently, more than 20 million people were confined to their homes for weeks over December and January in several cities across the country, including the ancient capital of Xi'an.

It is unclear when the lockdown in Baise will end.

China's Covid cases: On Sunday, Baise confirmed 37 locally transmitted symptomatic cases, bringing the total number of infections from the outbreak to 44 symptomatic cases, according to the municipal government.

It comes as China reported 45 local symptomatic cases on Sunday, including the 37 from Baise, four in southern Guangdong province, three in Beijing and one in the northern city of Tianjin.

The country also reported 10 asymptomatic cases — which China counts separately —including five in northeastern Heilongjiang province and five in Guangxi, according to the National Health Commission.

Covid at the Olympics: The Beijing Olympic Committee on Sunday reported 10 new Games-related Covid-19 cases. Of those, four were detected among new airport arrivals and six were found inside the bubble. Six of the 10 cases involved athletes or team officials.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) would not comment Monday on whether Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has been “speaking under duress” during recent interviews and meetings with IOC representatives. 

IOC director of communications Mark Adams said it was not up to the governing body to pass judgment on Peng's sexual assault allegation — which she has since recanted — or claims she has been “speaking under duress” in subsequent appearances. 

A three-time Olympian, Peng disappeared from public view for more than two weeks after she accused a former top Communist Party official of sexual assault in November last year. 

In December, Peng denied ever claiming she had been "sexually assaulted," saying her initial social media post describing the incident had been misunderstood.

Beijing has dismissed questions circulating around Peng's ongoing safety as "malicious speculation."

China's teen skiing sensation Eileen Gu survived a scare in qualification to finish fifth and make it through to the finals of the women's freeski big air competition.

In her second of three jumps, Gu fell near the bottom of the slope, losing one of her skis.

Gu's Chinese name, Gu Ailing, is the top search topic on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform on Monday. Hashtags about her make up nine out of the top 50 trending topics, with total views in the hundreds of millions.

Online, fans praised her ability to overcome the pressure from the failed second run after she delivered a firm landing on her third jump.

Others posted screenshots of Gu blowing a kiss to the camera and raising her arms to form a heart shape after her third run. “How sweet of her to show a heart to the audience!” one commentator said.

The big air final on Tuesday will see Gu facing off against Canada's Meghan Oldham, who finished first in qualifying, and France's Tess Ledeux, who came second.

China’s ambassador to the United Nations has issued a strong response following comments about the Beijing Winter Olympics made by his US counterpart on CNN.

US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the Games are not “business as usual,” on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.

It comes amid concerns over China's persecution of the Uyghurs and other human rights issues.

China’s UN envoy Zhang Jun released a statement Sunday to “resolutely refute the unfounded accusations against China.” Zhang said Thomas-Greenfield’s comments were “wrongful, irresponsible” in relation to issues including Beijing 2022, Xinjiang and Taiwan.

Zhang said the US' "attempt to make an issue of the Olympic Games has won no support" and has been "met with complete failure."

"Athletes from China, the US and other countries are competing fairly at the Beijing Winter Olympics. They are the ones that should be in the spotlight, and the US politicians should have left the stage for them long ago!” Zhang said.

After days of speculation over the whereabouts of the two-time reigning Olympic figure skating champion, Yuzuru Hanyu has arrived in Beijing.

The Japanese star, known as the "Ice Prince," is aiming for his third Winter Olympics gold medal at Beijing 2022 — a victory that would make him the first skater in 94 years to win three consecutive men's singles titles.

Hanyu has a huge fan base in China and his name was among the top trending searches on Weibo Sunday. The phrase "The time for Hanyu to compete is set" racked up about 40 million views on the Twitter-like platform.

The men's short progam starts on Tuesday and Hanyu will be the 21st skater.

The big air event is being held at the Shougang Industrial Park, once the site of a Chinese state-owned steel company and the burning heart of industrial Beijing.

Today, it's a bustling hub for tourism and art exhibitions — and the site of the only snow event in the Beijing Olympics zone.

The big furnaces and tall chimneys of the old steel mill, built in 1919, are now stamped with the Beijing 2022 logo, ringed by a frozen lake and brown reeds.

Spectators can also see a pagoda perched atop a mountain in the distance, overlooking the industrial park.

What is big air? Skiers launch off a 60 meter-high (196-foot) ramp and are scored for the size, style and difficulty of their jump. Each competitor has three attempts to get the highest score possible.

As each run is just one jump, skiers will throw down their biggest and best tricks in hope of Olympic glory.

And unlike many of the mountain events, the stands are close to the action — giving the fans a front row seat.

Three-time Olympic medalist Mikaela Shiffrin won’t be adding to her collection in the women's giant slalom event after getting a Did Not Finish on the first run.

The American skier was aiming for her first medal of the Games — it's one of as many as five events she may contest at Beijing 2022.

But on her run she missed a gate and didn't complete the difficult course.

Shiffrin returned to training last November after being out with a back injury but was then forced to miss several races after testing positive for Covid-19 in December.