ap photo Figure skating athlete Nicole Schott of Germany trains at Capital Indoor Stadium at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Wednesday in Beijing.

Dan Hicks had a short drive from his home to NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, the past two years to call the French Open and some World Cup skiing events. He didn’t imagine he would be doing it for an Olympics, though.

With China’s strict policy about those who test positive for COVID-19, Hicks and most of NBC’s announcers for the Beijing Games are stationed stateside. Hicks was in Tokyo to call swimming for last year’s Summer Games, when NBC had its announcers on site for the marquee sports.

While Hicks would like to be at the ski venue in Yanqing to call the competition, he realizes it isn’t feasible.

“I was bummed. No doubt about it but I know this was the right call by our NBC folks,” Hicks said. “I kind of expected this was going to be the case when I was notified. The protocols are the strictest I think we’ve ever seen.”

NBC isn’t alone in keeping its announcers home. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has almost all its analysts and announcers working out of studios in Toronto and Montreal. The British Broadcasting Corporation is also keeping announcers at studios outside London.

The only major network sending a large contingent to Beijing is Australia’s Seven Network since Olympics held in Asia are the equivalent of when NBC gets to do the Games in North America.

The revised plan had NBC sending announcing crews for Alpine skiing, figure skating and snowboarding. Hicks said he was originally supposed to depart for China on Jan. 24 until NBC made its final decision.

“It’s just too much of a gamble to bring the announcers there. Let’s say we test negative here and test positive there, you’ve got no recourse and are subjected to the protocols,” Hicks said. “You’re in somebody else’s country, you’re under the jurisdiction of their rules and how they operate. We just couldn’t take a chance.”

The most NBC, CBC and BBC have on the ground in Beijing is technical staff. Some reporters from NBC’s sports and news divisions will be based in Beijing during the Games.

NBC’s biggest name at the Olympics is prime-time host Mike Tirico. He will anchor coverage from Beijing on Thursday through Feb. 10 before flying to Los Angeles to host the next three days and the network’s coverage of the Super Bowl.