If you’re a regular traveler like me, you already know this: most airports are awful. You’re constantly rushing through a crowded terminal, competing with a harried mess of humanity, only to then cram yourself into a narrow seat for a few hours until you get to your next terminal purgatory—meanwhile, dragging your luggage the whole way. Germs waft through the air. Couples argue about holding each other up in the TSA line. As I write this, I’m sitting in the F concourse at Minneapolis Saint-Paul listening to a kid whine at NASCAR-engine levels about not getting soft serve ice cream and his Chick-fil-A nuggets.

Airports are the worst.

Except
not all of them. Around the world, there are a growing number of destinations that are making their airports, well, welcoming. A shocking idea, I know. I’ve been to a handful of these miraculous creations (compared to the usual dreadfulness)—international airports like Vancouver, Zurich, and Munich. They’re clean, organized, and, best of all, have a place to get some fresh air before your next long-haul flight. With this new wave of amenities (and your travel sanity) in mind, here are the best airports in the world, from Asia and the Middle East to right here in North America, that offer incredible open-air areas to soothe your traveling stress.

Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN)

Don’t Miss: The Indoor Climbing Area

Changi Airport is a perennial winner of the , thanks to a seemingly never-ending list of Disneyland-like attractions, including a onsite, a on the roof of Terminal 1, and the , at seven stories high. There’s even an indoor forest, called , with walking paths and a glass walkway that rises 23 meters above the terminal floor, allowing you to trek amongst the treetops. (To see how impressive the full list of attractions is, you can scroll through it .)

For nature lovers, though, the true gem is Changi’s series of gardens, including Cactus Garden, Sunflower Garden, Enchanted Garden, Petal Garden, and Butterfly Garden. Together, they offer the most complete botanical adventure you’ll get at any airport on earth. And even though some of the gardens are indoors, it’s hard to tell.

The , for example, is set in a large conservatory designed as a tropical forest, with an 18-foot high grotto waterfall. It’s home to over 1,000 butterflies from as many as 40 species and, on your way to your gate, you can stop by and stand amidst the flora as the butterflies flutter around you. For a splash of yellow, the is worth a quick stop if you have some time to kill in terminal 2, and the , also in Terminal 2, is designed to offer Shangri-La-like atmosphere, with the sounds of a forest pumped into is a large room dominated by four giant glass bouquet sculptures that are filled with a variety of flowers and ferns.

Perhaps most Zen of all, though, is the on the roof of Terminal 1, which features over 100 species of arid plants from Asia, Africa, and the Americas—everything from prickly pear cactus to giant ponytail palm trees. It also has a bar and shaded tables, so it may just be the best place to grab a local while you hope for another hour delay on your flight out.

Denver International Airport, Colorado (DEN)

Don’t Miss: The Ice-Skating Rink

This pick comes with a minor asterisk: the primary outdoor area is before you go through security, so you’ll need to enjoy the al fresco offerings in advance of your flight, but the options are worth the early arrival. The space is called the , and it’s a large synthetic turf located between the Jeppesen Terminal and the Westin Hotel, underneath the airport’s famous faux mountain peaks.

In summer, the turf is set up with cornhole games and wooden benches for lounging, and there’s often live music or other events throughout the season (all of which are free to the public). In the winter months, typically from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, the area features an open-air ice rink with free loaner skates.

Of course, don’t fret if you’re running on time and need to get through the TSA line: inside the airport there are three outdoor lounges with seating and fire pits, at Concourse A-West near gate A15; on Concourse B-West at gate B7; and at gate C67 on Concourse C-East.

Zurich Airport, Switzerland (ZRH)

Don’t Miss: The Outdoor Walking Paths

If you find yourself craving one last view of the Alps before your flight home, , the primary hub for Swiss International Airlines, has an executive lounge with an outdoor terrace that has impressive views of the mountains beyond. The at the Midfield Terminal is open to all travelers for a fee (roughly $50) and, in addition to the outdoor terrace views, you get access to all of the lounge’s food and drink options, and other amenities.

But the real reason Zurich Airport is on this list is because of its adjacent , a 20-acre park filled with forested walking paths and a modest hill with good views from up top. It’s a great place to unwind during a long layover or if you get caught waiting for a delayed flight. You’ll need to leave the terminal to access it, but the short walk and fresh air are worth it. During much of the week, there are park rangers who will take you on a , explaining the flora and fauna and how it was designed for maximum relaxation (check the rangers’ in advance). There’s even a free cable car to whisk you into the park in the most Swiss way possible.

From the arrivals area, walk across the parking area to the Circle, the large building adjacent to the terminal that hosts restaurants, hotels, and stores. From there you can take the cable car into Der Park.

Vancouver International Airport, Canada (YVR)

Don’t Miss: The Digital Light Show

For most passengers headed through , their first introduction (or last farewell) to British Columbia is YVR’s Chester Johnson Park, located directly adjacent to (and underneath) the Canada Line train station. The park is designed to feel like an , with rock-lined paths, native trees, driftwood benches, and a large wooden sculpture—the Musqueam Welcome Figure—curving throughout its length. It’s also home to the Green Wall, a 17-meter-high vegetated art installation made up of, at last count, 27,391 individual plants.

As for inside the airport itself, there’s a new 47-foot-high open-air atrium in the international terminal, with three full-grown hemlock trees in the center. Until recently, the glassed-in atrium was only visible to passengers as they commuted past, like looking into a giant terrarium, but you can now open a door and walk out into the atrium for a breath of fresh air. At night, the trees and rock landscape are lit up by digital light projections—faux waves crashing over the rocks, for example—and a corresponding soundscape. The whole experience is designed to showcase the sights and sounds of B.C., and it does just that and more. It may be the most successful attempt of any airport in the world to bring a little bit of the region’s natural landscape into the airport itself.

Incheon International Airport, South Korea (ICN)

Don’t Miss: The Indoor Gardens

Among the many attractions for passengers flying into or through South Korea’s —the country’s main international gateway and one of the busiest airports in the world—is a sprawling, in Terminal 2.

The green features are spread throughout much of the large space, with a mix of flowers, trees, ferns, and bamboo growing from planters situated throughout—in the floors, dividing walls, large garden spaces, and above kiosks’ ceilings, with strands hanging down. Smaller water, rock, cactus, and pine gardens are strategically located across the airport campus, too. Technically, none of these areas are outdoors, but the enormous roof above the main area, with translucent panels in the center, makes it feels as such, which is why we’re including it on this list.

We’re also including Incheon because of the airport’s ongoing plans to add even more green spaces that utilize a variety of plants to create a living, breathing indoor space with healthier air for all visitors. As part of its , the airport also plans to add a terrace with an outdoor garden, so passengers can decompress before their (likely long) overseas flight.

Long Beach Airport, California (LGB)

Don’t Miss: The Palm Treed Courtyard

, bills itself as “America’s coolest airport,” and while that moniker is a bit of a stretch, it does have an impressive courtyard with a series of tall palm trees and a drought-tolerant garden. The airport, one of the five major commercial airfields serving the greater Los Angeles metroplex, is the second smallest, with just 11 gates. In such a tiny airport, the 4,200-square-foot courtyard is definitely a unique amenity, one that punches well above its weight.

The courtyard is also ringed by dining options from local establishments, so it’s an excellent place to grab a bite to eat while you wait for your flight out. For those heading to this side of L.A. or points south along the coastline, LGB is definitely a good choice over LAX (see below).

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Don’t Miss: The Private Lounges

For anyone who has traveled through recently, you know it’s a mess, thanks to a $30 billion overhaul one of the world’s busiest airports is getting ahead of the , in L.A. By the time construction is done, it will almost be a brand new airport, with new terminals, an elevated train, and an on-site rental-car facility to help eliminate the shuttles current clogging up the passenger pickup/drop-off areas. Already some of the upgrades are beginning to appear, including a series of new lounges with outdoor terraces.

The in Tom Bradley International Terminal (Terminal B) has a large outdoor deck with fire pits, trees, running water, and great views of the Hollywood Hills in the distance ($75 for standard access). The United Club in Terminal 7 is much smaller—more a balcony than a lounge—but it’s spacious enough to get some fresh air and does have good views of the tarmac ($59 for a single-entry pass).

The new , which is open to Delta customers traveling with a Delta One ticket, is the company’s premium lounge, with table service at every seat, a sushi bar, and eight relaxation pods. It also has a large private Sky Deck on the roof, with a landscaped terrace full of chairs, sofas, and enough plants to keep it feeling like a lounge, rather than an extension of the tarmac.

LAX will remain a very urban airport, but with a few spots to sneak in some last-minute SoCal sun, these lounges are worth it, if you can afford them.

Hamad International Airport, Qatar (DOH)

Don’t Miss: The Indoor Tropical Garden

Yes, this is another entry highlighting a space that is not, technically, outdoors, and yet we promise that visiting ’s “The Orchard” will feel more like being in nature than just about any of the other places on this list.

It’s a massive, 64,000-square-foot set beneath a soaring, translucent roof shaped like the inside of a shell. More than were sourced from around the world to create the indoor garden, and at its center is a “water feature” that is best described as a spiraling waterfall emerging from a slanted halo. At points the faux forest is so lush that you almost forget that you’re surrounded by roughly five dozen shops, lounges, and restaurants, with hundreds of rushing bodies scrambling to catch their flights. It’s almost worth a trip to Doha just to see it—or at least a long layover.

Munich International Airport, Germany (MUC)

Don’t Miss: The Next-Door Surf Park

This wouldn’t be Bavaria without beer, so it’s fitting that not only does have a beer garden onsite, it’s also an open-air one, with a covered glass roof. Called the, it’s the first brewery in an airport on earth. It has an indoor tavern for drinking, but the patio offers both fresh air, protection from the occasional rain shower, and food and beers, like the Fliegerquell Lager and the Kumulous Wheat.

Munich Airport also has a 900-square-meter , with seating and binoculars to take in the alpine views on clear days. Across from Terminal 1 is , an extensive outdoor area with grass lawns and trails, a playground area, interactive exhibits, benches for sitting, and a 90-foot-high hill overlooking the area. It’s an excellent place to stretch the legs before a long flight or burn off some of the kids’ energy before boarding.

Oh, and just in case you have half a day to kill, there’s a brand-new surf park, , just around the corner from the airport. It’s Germany’s first wave pool and the largest in Europe, at over 215,000 square feet, capable of churning out waves .Ìę Getting there is a cinch: it’s just a five-mute car ride away, literally in the shadow of landing flights.

Bonus Picks: Other Noteworthy Outdoor Areas in North American AirportsÌę

While these airports do have notable outdoor areas, they really can’t compare with our picks for the best airports in the world featured above. That said, they’re still worth calling out on honorable mentions—especially for domestic travelers—for these specific reasons.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Texas (AUS)

The accessible to Sapphire Reserve cardmembers, has a large outdoor terrace with seating overlooking the tarmac and Hill Country beyond. The Delta Sky Club, directly adjacent to the Sapphire Lounge, also has outdoor seating, and more outdoor areas are in the works as part of the airport’s multi-billion-dollar expansion.

San Francisco International Airport, California (SFO)

For ticketed passengers, there’s a free in the international terminal with seating and excellent views of the airfield and beyond. Three bronze sculptures by local artist Woody Othello decorate the space, at the end of Boarding Area G. For plane-watching, there’s also the , located atop Terminal 2. It’s a good, free place for the public to come (no ticket necessary) to see some of the largest aircraft serving SFO. The SkyTerrace is open Friday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia (ATL)

The in Concourse F has an outdoor deck for its club members, with seating for roughly 40 guests and a free bar. As with all of Delta’s clubs, there’s free food and drinks, as well as WiFi.

John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)

For travels heading through JetBlue’s Terminal, there’s a roughly 4,000-square-foot post-security rooftop lounge with green spaces, seating, a children’s play area, and even a dog-walk area. The rooftop lounge also offers passengers views of the Manhattan skyline and of the iconic TWA terminal, which is now the . The , as it’s called, is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the entrance is across from Gate 28.

Ryan Krogh is a freelance writer and editor based in Austin, Texas. He mostly covers the subjects of travel and the outdoors, and is always looking for a way to get some fresh air in airports worldwide.ÌęÌę

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Contributor Tim Neville has spent years on the road finding off-the-grid destinations to write about for șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű. So when he says these are the most memorable meals he’s eaten after a day of adventuring, that’s really saying something.

Mestia, Republic of Georgia

What: Dumplings and bazhe salad
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű pairing: Paragliding

After a day of soaring around the Caucasus Mountains above Mestia, I made my way to the and ordered the khinkali meat dumplings and a salad with bazhe sauce, a miracle paste of crushed walnuts packed with blue fenugreek, coriander, and marigold. A guy at the next table started to sing, and soon everyone else joined in. Nothing strange in that—Georgians love to sing at dinner.

Pyeongchang, South Korea

What: The buffet
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű pairing: Skiing or hiking

Shortly before the 2018 Winter Games kicked off, I spent a week skiing and exploring the region’s temples and barbecue joints. But it was the buffet at the that I would return for. Picture a room the size of an airplane hangar, with dozens of stations displaying spicy kimchis, rich sundubu-jjigae (a tofu stew), hoeddeok (sweet pancakes), and so many crocks of fermented veggies that I think I overdid it.

Vis, Croatia

What: Lamb peka
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű pairing: Scuba diving

A few years ago, I visited this island in the Adriatic to dive among the ancient amphorae that dot the seafloor. Still wet, I drove to a spot between the towns of Vis and Komiza and found , a winery and family restaurant in a gorgeous stone building. I sat under a colossal tree and devoured a bowl of peka, a rich lamb stew with spices and carrots that’s slow-cooked over an open fire at an outdoor kitchen.

Egypt

What: Ful mudammas, falafel, labneh
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű pairing: Cruising the Nile

In 2016, a few years after the Arab Spring rocked Egypt, I went to see whether tourism was bouncing back. It wasn’t. I stuck around and ended up aboard a luxury Nile cruiser, the , which traveled between Luxor and Aswan. Every morning I’d sit on the top deck and eat a plate piled high with falafel, ful mudammas (a fava bean stew), and creamy labneh (strained yogurt), watching kids play in the river and the ancient villages and temples coming into view. I could eat that meal three times a day.

Ryukyu Islands, Japan

What: Umibudo
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű pairing: Island hopping

The Ryukyus stretch southwest from Japan toward Taiwan, and at the northernmost part of the chain is Okinawa, which is something like the Hawaii of Japan, with a different culture, music, and culinary tradition than on the mainland. Here you order umibudo, a type of sea-grape-looking seaweed that’s crunchy, bright, and salty. It’s the closest thing you can get to taking a bite out of the ocean.

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Last month, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government announced that the 2020 Tokyo Games would beÌępostponedÌęuntilÌęJuly 23, 2021, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It’s clearly the right call. But maybe you, like me, are still in shock, confronting the loss of an event we’ve been looking forward to for years.

Four recent books, however, remind us of other times when the Olympics overcame global crises and persevered through dark periodsÌęduringÌęits 124-year history. There were the World Wars, of course, which resulted inÌęthe cancellation of three Games. But it carried on through the Great Depression, terrorist attacks, and, most recently, a rogue regime threatening the use of a nuclear bomb. So while you’re sheltering in place without sports for the foreseeable future, try one of these reads to put this moment in historical perspective.

The Time an Olympic Hockey Team Helped De-Escalate a Nuclear Threat

The Olympics are often as much about politics as they are about sports. That was certainly true for theÌę2018 Pyeongchang Games, which helped ease tensions between South Korea and North Korea, even thoughÌęorganizers feared the latter might test a nuclear weapon during competition. In the middle of this geopolitical chess match was Korea’s first-ever unified women’s ice-hockey team. South Korea originally proposed the idea as a symbolic gesture to mitigate the tension on the Korean peninsula. Kim Jong UnÌęeventually bought in, and a squadÌęof 23 South Koreans and 12 North Koreans was created. In , Seth Berkman, a sports contributor at The New York Times, unspoolsÌęthe fascinating backstory. “Everyone on the team has a story worth sharing,” he told șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű.

The ups and downs that led to the unified team are especially engrossing. In 2013, South Korean officials sent mysterious emailsÌęto recruit Canadian and American collegiate players who looked Korean in their yearbooks. As a result, five North Americans of Korean descent joined the roster, which at that point was comprised solely of South Koreans. And the players didn’t just hailÌęfrom different countries butÌęall walks of life—they were college students, actresses, convenience-store workers. They became close as they prepared for the OlympicsÌębut then, four weeks before their first game in Pyeongchang, found out that 12 North Koreans would be joining the squad. In the end, everyoneÌędeveloped a special connection through training sessions, K-pop songs, Big Macs, and ice cream.

While the group didn’t win a single match, it wasn’t all a loss. Their teamwork overcame cultural, societal, and political challenges to make history. And the Olympics helped get Donald Trump and Kim JongÌęUn to the negotiating table, which, at least for a while, provided hope for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The Time an Ex-Cop Saved Thousands from a Bomb at the Olympics

The Atlanta bombing at the 1996 Summer Games was the worst Olympic terrorist attack since the Munich Massacre ofÌę1972. Still, until , at least, most people forgot about Richard Jewell, the heroic security guard who spotted the bomb and preventedÌęgreater calamity. In , Kent Alexander, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia at the time of the 1996 Olympics, and Kevin Salwen, a seasoned journalist, bring us back to the eighth night of thoseÌęAtlanta Games.

At Centennial Park, Jewell, a hapless former cop turned hypervigilant guard, spotted a discarded bag near thousands of spectators watching a concert. It turned out to be a bomb. He helped evacuate the crowd, but it was too late to save everyone. It exploded. Two people died, and 111 were injured. In the following days, newspapers and TV networks from all over the world hailed Jewell as a hero. Everything went south, though, once an FBI agent leaked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Jewell was a suspect in the attack. Law enforcement finally cleared him after three months of investigations, but during that time, TV crews in vans and helicopters shadowed Jewell and his family, speculating that he was the bomber. In 2003, the actual perpetrator, an American named Eric Rudolph, was captured and confessedÌęnot only to the Olympic bombingÌębut three other antiabortion and antigay terrorist attacks in the South as well. Yet even today, some people continue to think Jewell is guilty.

Alexander and Salwen conducted 187 interviews and sifted through 90,000 pages of documents over five years while researching the story. They concluded that the Jewell episode was, as they write in The Suspect, “convenient for law enforcement that got its suspect. Convenient for the media that got its story. Convenient for Olympics organizers who could move the Games forward with fans and athletes believing the bomber had been safely cornered.” It was convenient for everyone but Richard Jewell himself. False information spread widely, shaped public opinion, and dragged law enforcement in the wrong direction. After thatÌęit was hard for the suspect to recover his lifeÌęand his reputation. In an interview with , Salwen says the tale is “a social-media story from a time when social media didn’t exist.”

The Time the Olympics Arrived in AmericaÌęDuring the GreatÌęDepression

Los Angeles has Billy Garland to thank for putting it on the map: the real estate tycoon broughtÌęthe Olympic Games to that city in 1932, helping establish it as the global cultural capital it is today. Yet most people in Southern California have probably never heard of him. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Barry Siegel revives his incredible storyÌęin .

At the turn of the century, automobiles were a rare sight in the underdeveloped city, and fig orchards covered what would become the Hollywood Hills. The movie industry only started to take root the following decade, and by 1920, three-quarters of the world’s films were shot around Los Angeles. But when the IOC’s European establishment began searching for the host of the 1932 Games, Los Angeles was still not on itsÌęradar. Garland decided to change that. Dreamers and Schemers uses extensive archival material, including letters exchanged between GarlandÌęand Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, to recount Garland’s improbable effort to bring the world’s largest sporting event to the City of Angels.

Some document-heavy sections move slowly, but the book conveys the amazing amount of ambition and confidence it required to convince both European representatives in the IOC and Californians themselves that the Olympics should come to Los Angeles. Garland pushed the state government to issue a million-dollar bondÌęand then corralled Hollywood and local newspapers to drum up morale for hosting, even as the Great Depression rocked the country. He enduredÌępolice corruption and political scandals to produce a successful Olympics, introducingÌęLos Angeles to the world. “The story of Billy Garland is the story of Los Angeles,” Siegel writes. And that’s not an exaggeration.

The Time a Group of African American Athletes Defied Racism and Fascism to Compete in the Olympics

Typically, the world only remembers one black athlete from the notorious 1936 Berlin Olympics—Jesse Owens. But in , based on , director Deborah Riley Draper and author Travis Thrasher tell the story of the other 17 African American athletes who competed in those Games.

Their presence and victories in Berlin wereÌęa blow to racial prejudice on both sides of the Atlantic, and the book, though sometimes scattered, explores their fascinating backstories. The athletes pushedÌęthrough unfair and rigorous trials to represent a country that considered them second-class citizens at an OlympicsÌęhosted by a fascist country. In some ways, Nazi Germany actually treated them better than the Jim Crow South. Owens and his fellow African AmericanÌęathletes were welcomed with applause and respect from competitors and spectators, and they all stayed in an integrated Olympic Village. ThenÌęthey defied the Nazi regime’s ideas of Aryan superiority by scooping up 14 medals, including seven golds, in track and field and boxing.

“It wasn’t just Jesse. It was other African-American athletes in the middle of Nazi Germany under the gaze of Adolf Hitler that put a lie to notions of racial superiority,” writeÌęDraper and Thrasher. The athletic excellence demonstrated by the group foreshadowed Hitler’s defeat in GermanyÌęand, back home, was a precursor to the civil rights movement.

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A few years ago, researchers nine years of detailed training and health records from Norway’s world-beating cross-country ski team, seeking to understand the difference between Olympic and World Championship medalists and their very-very-good-but-not-quite-podium-caliber teammates. One of the key patterns that emerged: medal winners spent an average of 14 days per year with colds and other minor infections, while also-rans averaged 22 days.

Staying healthy is vital to athletic success, both during the months of hard training and in the stress of competition, which often involves travel, jet-lag, shared accommodations, and other risk factors. A in the British Journal of Sports Medicine offers a glimpse from the trenches, with a report from the medical team that accompanied Team Finland to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea on their efforts to diagnose and limit the spread of the common cold using new real-time testing.

The study followed 112 people (44 athletes, 68 support staff) who were at the Olympics for an average of three weeks, mostly living in a single block of apartments. Anyone who had a respiratory symptom—sore throat, runny nose, congestion, cough—immediately had two mucus specimens taken with nasal swabs. One was fed immediately into the machine, which takes 30 minutes to tell you whether you’ve got the flu or certain cold-causing viruses. The other was stored until the team returned to Finland, then analyzed with a more rigorous to confirm what viruses were present.

The first thing that popped to mind when I read the abstract of this study is: why bother? Who cares which particular virus you’ve got, given that we don’t have effective cures for any of them? But that’s not quite true. For one thing, it’s very useful to know immediately whether your sore throat is a virus or a bacteria like strep throat; if the latter, then you should get on antibiotics ASAP. It’s also possible—though —that if you have a flu virus or have been exposed to someone who has it, then you might benefit from taking Tamiflu.

This latter approach is what the Finns opted for. A total of 42 out of 112 people (including 20 of 44 athletes) reported respiratory symptoms during the Games. The symptoms were mostly mild, but the rapid point-of-care testing flagged six cases of influenza virus. All were treated with Tamiflu, along with 32 other people who’d been in contact with them. It’s impossible to know whether this lessened the symptoms or spread of the outbreak, but in theory it may have helped.

The common cold was less effectively diagnosed with the rapid testing, which only picked up five cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) A. The later PCR testing ended up identifying infections—coronaviruses, rhinovirus, human metapneunovirus, etc.—in 30 of the 42 cases. This is interesting because some previous studies have failed to find viruses in a large proportion of athletes who report respiratory symptoms. That suggested these symptoms are often the result of non-infectious airway inflammation, perhaps from lots of heavy breathing. In this case, though, it appears that most of the Finnish athletes really were sick.

The most interesting part of the study is the analysis of how the infections spread. There were seven different clusters of specific viruses, and these clusters tended to form within a given sport or event group. In other words, not surprisingly, sick athletes were passing it on to their teammates. The medical team did attempt to isolate athletes who reported sickness for three to four days, which may have reduced further spread but wasn’t enough to stop it entirely.

The graph below gives a bird’s-eye view of how infections spread during the Games. Each color represents a different virus strain; each row represents a different athlete; and each column represents a day. (The entire article is , if you want more details.)

For several of the viruses, like RSV A and influenza B, you can see how they start with one person, then spread to another and another and another. The stories behind each virus are fascinating.

For example, one subject reported congestion before leaving Finland, and was subsequently diagnosed with RSV A in the Olympic Village. But by then it was too late: the person sitting next to Patient 0 on the nine-hour flight to South Korea was diagnosed with the same strain six days later. Someone else got it—perhaps from the second patient rather than the first—10 days later, and two more got it 16 and 17 days later.

There was a similar story for the flu. One person developed symptoms, including fever, on the flight to South Korea. They were later diagnosed with influenza B. In this case, the person sitting behind the initial patient then came down with the same strain of flu 1.5 days later. There were three further cases of the same strain, though it’s not clear if they were connected to the initial outbreak.

Overall, most of the infections appeared to originate in Finland. Once the athletes and staff were in the Olympic Village, they were probably hyper-vigilant about hand hygiene and avoiding crowded places and so on—if only because a team of doctors kept following them around and threatening to stick swabs up their nose. But they may have been a little less vigilant back in their home environments before they left. That’s perhaps one useful lesson to keep in mind.

And there is one other, slightly happier story. Yet another person developed symptoms—nasal congestion, this time—on the flight to South Korea. Upon arrival, a swab determined that they had RSV B. But there was a difference this time: unlike the other patients, this one was seated in business class. After arrival, the patient was isolated for four days, and no one else on the team developed this particular infection. Whether you’re an athlete, a business traveler, or (say) a journalist on assignment, the message is clear: if someone else is picking up the dime, demand business class. Your health and success may depend on it.

My new book, , with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell, is now available. For more, join me on and , and sign up for the Sweat Science .

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We’re calling it: South Korea will play host to Team America’s most successful Winter Olympics ever. Why? We’re stacked. We’ve got established superstars like Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White; a slew of ringers in some of the more unheralded sports, including biathlete Lowell Bailey and nordic skier Kikkan Randall; and a litter of fresh talent, many of whom have been quietly dominating their sport for the past couple of years.

Take a look, if you will, at our alpine athletes. Mikaela Shiffrin you probably know. The 22-year-old earned gold in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Games and took the overall World Cup title last year. This time around she’s favored to repeat in the slalom, and expected to be on the podium in the giant slalom and the super combined as well. Then there’s our young snowboarding crew: Red Gerard won his first World Cup slopestyle event last season; Maddie Mastro is consistently on the halfpipe podium at the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships; Hailey Langland won last year’s X Games big-air competition. All three are 17 years old.

Finally, there’s Chloe Kim. The snowboard prodigy broke out four years ago, when she was just 13, taking 12th in the halfpipe event at the 2013 U.S. Open in Vail, Colorado. “As soon as she came on the scene, you knew she’d be the future,” says Jack Mitrani, a former competitive snowboarder who announces the X Games for ESPN. “She has incredible style, and she goes ten feet higher above the pipe than anybody else.” In 2015 and 2016, she won back-to-back titles at the X Games.

“She’s the female Shaun White,” says Mitrani. Well, not quite. For that, Kim will need some Olympic bling and a hell of a lot more notoriety. But if all goes well, she’ll be leaving South Korea with her face on a Wheaties box and a Flying Tomato–esque nickname. Which seems appropriate, since this will likely be the last Olympics for White and the rest of his contemporaries, including Vonn and reigning Olympic GS champ Ted Ligety. The snowboard king will soon be dead. Long live the queen. But first: total Olympic domination by the most formidable U.S. squad ever to don full Lycra.

5 Americans to Watch in the 2018 Olympics

Get ready for these contenders to crush the Winter Games.

The Nordic Team's Secret to Olympic Success

Our best team in ages wins more by having fun.

How New Tech Is Transforming Our Olympic Teams

From mountain bike-inspired prosthetics to couch skiing, Americans are using the latest advances to maximize their output.

Jamie Anderson's Olympic Packing List

The essentials snowboarder Jamie Anderson will bring to the Olympic Village to help her perform at her best.

The Quadruple Cork Is the Future of Snowboarding

How to master one of the toughest moves we’ll see at the 2018 Games.

A Brief Primer on All Those Nordic Sports

Perhaps it's the metric system, or maybe it's the spandex onesies, but Americans have some trouble grasping the different types of Nordic skiing.

Why Olympic Skaters Move from Wheels to Ice

In January, 25-year-old Erin Jackson became the first African-American woman to make a U.S. Olympic team in long-track speedskating. And she did it just a year after strapping on her first pair of blades.

What the Times Got Wrong About Cross-Country Skiing

There were a lot of mistakes in that recent story. Let’s set the record straight.

The Simple Meal That's Powering Team USA

We found that nearly every athlete we spoke to eats some twist on the same basic formula of oats, eggs, and coffee.

Olympian Ted Ligety Never Hits Snooze

The decorated skier talks productivity and good habits as he prepares to defend his gold medal in Pyeongchang and and enters his 12th year running his own eyewear company.

The Definitive Ranking of the Hardest Winter Olympic Sports

Yes, curling makes the list. And no, we're not biased at all.Ìę

Athlete Essentials for Surviving the Olympics

Every four years, we get excited about the new tech debuting at the Winter Olympics. But what doesn't get as much attention are the everyday solutions athletes use to keep themselves up and running throughout the competition.

If Running Had a Mikaela Shiffrin

There isn’t one, of course. But what would it take?Ìę

The U.S. Women's Cross-Country Gold Is a Huge Deal

Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall’s Olympic victory is a win for everyone.

To learn more, visit . ÌęThe Olympics begin live on Feb 8.Ìę

How Athletes Train Their Minds for the Olympics

Sports psychologists weigh in on the challenges of being among the best in the world.

Snowboarder Chloe Kim Is a Triumph for Asian-Americans

As a fellow Asian-American female rider, following her career over the past few years has been an exhilarating ride.

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From five different sports, here's who to root for on Team USA—and when to watch them.

Steven Nyman

35, alpine skiing

Nyman, of Park City, Utah, has won three World Cup races and came in third in the only World Cup event run on the South Korean course in 2016. He believes the track suits him. “It has lots of little jumps and rolls and wacky, bumpy terrain that I feel comfortable on,” he says. And despite tearing his knee last January, he likes his chances. “Most guys I talk to who’ve been through knee injuries say that a year out is when you feel 100 percent,” he says. “So these Olympics are good timing.”

compete in the downhill on February 10, 8:30 P.M. EST, on NBC.

Lowell Bailey

36, biathlon

About halfway through the Sochi biathlon, Bailey, who lives in Lake Placid, New York, was well positioned to win the bronze. Then he missed a target, dropping him into eighth place and denying the Americans their first ever biathlon medal. That prompted the team to hire Matt Eamons, an Olympic gold-medal shooter, and Gerold Sattlecker, a biomechanics professor at Austria’s University of Salzburg. Together they used computer analysis to make minute adjustments to various aspects of the team’s shooting technique. The result was a gold medal for Bailey at the 2017 World Championships, the first by an American. “On any given day, there are 50 guys who have a chance of medaling,” says Bailey. “Winning gave me confidence that I know what it takes.”

compete in the sprint biathlon on February 11, 5:45 A.M. EST, on NBC.

Jamie Greubel Poser

34, bobsled

Greubel Poser quit the bobsled after the first time she tried it. “I felt like I got put in a tin can and kicked off a cliff,” she says. The former Cornell University track athlete put down her helmet and went to graduate school, earning a master’s degree in early childhood education. Then she got a call from Phoebe Burns, a driver on the women’s bobsled team. “She knew I had a fast start time and wanted me to help push her,” says Greubel Poser. “So I decided to try again.” Good choice. In Sochi, Greubel Poser won bronze with teammate Aja Evans. Now she’s the top-ranked bobsledder in the world.

compete in the bobsled on February 18, 6:20 A.M. EST, on NBC.

Erin Hamlin

31, luge

Thanks to a hefty budget and technically advanced sleds, Germans have dominated the luge for years. One bright spot for Americans is Hamlin, a native of Remsen, New York, who won bronze at the Sochi Olympics—the luge team’s only medal. Hamlin is now favored to win Team USA’s first Olympic gold medal in luge, partly because of the squad’s recent partnership with Dow Chemical and sandpaper manufacturer Norton Saint-Gobain. Using 3-D printing, computer modeling, and advanced aerodynamics, the two companies have manu­factured sleds with dramatically lower friction and vibration, saving precious tenths of a second. “Before, we sort of used homemade equipment,” says Hamlin. “Now there’s a lot more science that goes into it. It makes a big difference.”

compete in the luge on February 18, 5:20 A.M. EST, on NBC.

Joey Mantia

31, speed skating

The South Korea Games will mark the debut of mass-start speed skating, a head-to-head—and sometimes fist-to-back—race that sends up to 28 athletes 16 laps around the 400-meter oval at once. “It’s like Nascar on ice,” says Mantia. “People are grabbing hips and pushing.” Mantia, who is from Ocala, Florida, won 28 World Championship titles in in-line skating before switching to speed skating in 2011. Last year he won the World Championship and is a favorite to take the gold in the new event. “It’s a lot like in-line, the first to the finish line wins,” he says. “That’s right in my wheelhouse.”

compete in the mass start on February 24, 5:30 A.M. EST, on NBC.

To learn more, visit . ÌęThe Olympics begin live on Feb 8.Ìę

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A few months before the 2015 Nordic World Championships in Falun, Sweden, the women on the U.S. cross-country ski team were starting to get anxious. Jessie Diggins had an idea to calm the squad’s jitters and refocus everyone on racking up medals: make a music video. “We had all this nervous energy,” says the 26-year-old Diggins. “But it’s hard to worry about your next race when you’re doing the Macarena.”

She choreographed a dance routine to Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk” and, over the next several weeks, roped in the entire women’s team (and some male skiers, too) to shoot various scenes, lip-synching while moonwalkingÌęin ski boots through the streets of quaint European villages.

went viral, racking up millions of views before it was finally pulled from Facebook. “We didn’t have the rights to the music,” explains Diggins. But the stunt served its purpose. Diggins came away from the World Championships with silver, and teammate Caitlin Compton Gregg won bronze. “We’ve taken an individual sport and turned it into a team sport,” says Diggins. “We’re always cheering each other on and boosting each other up as much as we can. I see my teammates more than I see my actual family.”

That group mentality has helped elevate a traditionally also-ran cross-country ski team to one of the best in the world. Since 2013, six American women have stood on World Cup podiums a total of 27 times. Much of the credit for that goes to Kikkan Randall, the pink-haired star who, with 13 wins, has more World Cup victories than any other American. “It used to be that everybody was on their own plan,” says Randall. “But when we come together and push each other, we all improve.”

In South Korea, American cross-country skiers will be looking to win the team’s first Olympic medal since 1976, when Bill Koch won silver. The chances are good. “I don’t even think it takes a perfect day in the team sprint to get us on the stand,” says Randall.

But first, another music video. “If we can get the rights, I’ll be all about choreographing a new dance routine,” says Diggins. “It depends on whether Macklemore gets back to us.”

Bringing Your Plus-One

How new-mom athletes are shaking up the Games

Back in 2016, when cross-country skier Kikkan Randall was planning her first child, Breck, she timed the delivery so that she could be back in shape by the time the Winter Games in Pyeongchang rolled around. She wasn’t alone—three other top American and ­European nordic racers had babies within five months of one another. At the time, the International Ski Federation classified new moms and pregnant women as injured, which came with a rankings penalty and put sponsorships at risk. “When men want to have a family, they don’t have to stop competing or potentially lose their livelihood,” Randall says. So she and others petitioned the FIS to accommodate new moms. Starting last year, there was designated space for breastfeeding at races, housing assistance for families, and even team babysitters, policies that will continue in South Korea. Nordic is the first Olympic sport to institute a program of this kind, and success could determine whether it’s adopted by the International Olympic Committee. “Having a baby was my choice,” Randall says. “But I’m in a sport where you develop in your late twenties. I didn’t want to wait, and I didn’t want to walk away.” —Heather Hansman

To learn more, visit . ÌęThe Olympics begin live on Feb 8.Ìę

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Snowboarder Jamie Anderson won gold in the slopestyle event at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, and with a few new moves in her arsenal, she’s a favorite to repeat in South Korea. Just as important as her bag of tricks? Her bag of stuff: the gear she’ll bring to help her stay at the top of her game.

Dakine Ryder 24L Pack

“I like the , because it’s simple, it’s steezy, and it’s perfect for traveling. It comes with a padded laptop sleeve and a travel pocket at the top for your passport and other things you need quick access to.”

Dragon Herbs Tonic Alchemy

“To stay healthy, I take . It has 91 ingredients, including probiotics.”

BeatsÌęHeadphones andÌęPortable Speaker

“I have to have my with me on long flights. And when I get there, I use the to jam in my room and get my dance on.”

Ìę

GoPro Hero6 Camera

“You need a GoPro camera and some fun mounts to capture the chaos. Right now I have .”

Aloha Bling Necklaces

“I love to rock my .”

Incense, Essential Oils, and Candles

“I bring incense, essential oils, and candles to make my hotel room feel more like home.”

Knitting Needles and Yarn

“In case I get bored, I’ll have Knitting needles and yarn with me to get a little artsy. It probably won’t happen—but you never know!”

To learn more, visit . ÌęThe Olympics begin live on Feb 8.Ìę

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Snowboarders in South Korea will fly higher and perform more-complicated maneuvers than ever before, thanks in part to . The cushy landings provided by the stuntman-style crash pads mitigate injury risk, allowing riders to master tricks they’d otherwise never dream of trying. “The amount of progression that occurred during the 20 years when we didn’t have airbags has been matched during the four years since we started using them,” says Jack Mitrani, a former competitive rider.

Still, one of the hardest moves we’re likely to see at the 2018 Winter Games was developed the old-school way, by repeatedly bashing out attempt after attempt on cold, unforgiving snow. The quadruple cork—four off-axis flips and five 360s—requires a purpose-built jump to give athletes enough hang time for all those rotations and has been landed by only five men, including American Chris Corning, who nailed it last spring during a practice run at Mammoth Mountain in California. “It’s never even been tried in a slopestyle competition,” says Corning. “But it might be what it takes to win.” Here, Corning breaks down why the quad cork is so challenging.

Step 1: As you ride up the 65-foot-long jump, you get on the toe-side edge of your board in an athletic stance, ready to spring off the lip with enough power to launch 25 feet into the air and 80 feet across the snow.

Step 2: As you launch, you initiate the first flip and rotation by throwing your head and right hand to the left.

Step 3: As you rotate, you grab the heel edge of the board with your front hand. You’ll be completing four rotations, and in order to know where you are in the trick, it’s important to count the sky and the ground four times each, so you know when it’s time to land.

Step 4: During the fourth rotation, you spot the landing, let go of your board, and stop twisting your head. Then you brace for impact.

Step 5: The landing is the hardest part. You’ve created a lot of G-force that you now need to halt, and you’re coming down from a height of 25 feet. You have to be strong to handle the compression, which is why I do lots of back squats, squat jumps, and core work. For a flawless touchdown, you want to drop into a deep squat, keeping your chest upright and your hands off the ground.

To learn more, visit . ÌęThe Olympics begin live on Feb 8.Ìę

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The majority of us—TV viewers, fantasy strategists, and OlympicsÌębingers—think of our athletic heroes as having high-powered nutritionists at their side, serving a militant diet where everything is as plain as oatmeal with a dot of honey. But many athletes around the world eat things that would surprise even the ChoppedÌęjudging table.

“Most of the international athletes I’ve encountered tend to prefer what’s common in their home country.ÌęI’ve found that they don’t have bland diets,” says Shawn Arent, sports medicine and performance expert and director of the Center for Health andÌęHuman Performance at Rutgers University. “We’ve even seen a problem when foreign athletes come to the U.S. and access more processed foods. In many cases, I’ve seen those athletes gain quite a bit of weight as they adapt to different foods.”

We connected with athletes around the world to discover what’s in the training mealÌę(or cheat meal)Ìęthat they can’t get enough of.

Adam Ondra, Rock Climber, Czech RepublicÌę

In the Czech Republic’s southwestern city of Brno, climberÌęAdam OndraÌęrelies onÌęlocal produce from the lowlands for superfoods. Colder months yield a side dish of raw sour cabbage that’s chock-full of vitamins.ÌęPoppy seeds are in every bread and bun on the plate or blended into a smoothie. For the traditional Czech taste, though, he turns to svickova: a thin cut of beef served with cream-based gravy, bread dumplings, and cranberry topping. The dish is made by the masters (grandmothers), and Ondra indulges once, maybe twice, a year—one must stay lean on the cliff faces.

Mira Rai, Trail Runner, Nepal

The petite, 108-pound Mira Rai puts away the remarkable amount of calories trail runners need by eating the traditional dish,Ìędal bhat. The Nepalese staple includes a heaping pile of white or brown rice;Ìęa side bowl of lentils, spinach, and other mixed veggies;Ìęoccasional slices of meat;Ìęand a spice mix of coriander, cumin, garam masala, and turmeric. Like all Nepalese dishes, dal bhat isÌęeaten with the hands.

Atsede Baysa,ÌęMarathonÌęRunner, EthiopiaÌę

This year’s Boston Marathon winner, Atsede Baysa, lives and trains 45 miles west of Ethiopia’s centrallyÌęlocated capital ofÌęAddis Ababa, in a small town near the Chilimo-Gaji forest. She supplements standard starch and protein combos of pasta and fish with national treasure injera chechebsa. Injera is Ethiopia’s sour and spongy bread, rich in both iron and carbohydrates.ÌęChechebsa, commonly known as kita firfir, is fried injera seasoned in a berbere sauce made with hot red pepper powder, all served with honey. The dish provides protein and fat for Baysa, who eats it with a tilapia-like white fish called Nile perch.

Jain Kim, Rock Climber, South Korea

The summer heat in South Korea calls for cold noodle soup, and climberÌęJain Kim favors the wildly popular naengmyeon. Seldom served in other Asian countries, the buckwheat noodle soup comes with sliced beef, cucumbers, Korean pear, and a soft-boiled egg. A simpler variation, called mul-naengmyeon, relies on beef broth alone, but Kim opts for the bibim-naengmyeon, which incorporates spicy red chili peppers into the broth.

Max Matissek, Windsurfer, Greece

Some of the best local produce in Naxos, Greece, are juicy tomatoes, which windsurferÌęMax Matissek eats on top of daily salads with Naxian cheese—imagine a hybrid of cottage cheese and feta. His protein comes from chicken souvlaki, the lightly marinated meat skewers over rice, with a side of Naxian potatoes—oven-roasted and mixed with local olive oil, garlic, lemon, and pepper.

Mo Hrezi, MarathonÌęRunner, Libya/United States

As aÌęformer Italian colony, Libya boasts cuisine with Mediterranean, North African, and Middle Eastern influences. The country’s residents take the preparation and sharing of food seriously, and MoÌęHrezi, a Libyan-American runner with a carb-heavy, spicy-infused diet, is no exception. When he visits his parents and sisters in Tripoli, where he hopes to one day move back after finishing college, his most savored dish is rishdet burma, a warm, soupy, spicy bowl of homemade pasta with a tomato base, chickpeas, fava beans, lentils, fenugreek, and gideed (dried and salted meat).

Farida Osman, Swimmer, Egypt/United States

For Olympic swimmer FaridaÌęOsman, the late-morning spread in her Zamalek neighborhood of Cairo includes ful medames—local beans seasoned with olive oil, lemon,Ìęand cumin—and traditional molokheya, made by mixing the dish’s namesakeÌęplant leaves with coriander, garlic, and chicken stock. Keeping with the sharp flavors of Egyptian cuisine, Osman tops her dishes with roumy, the nativeÌęcrumbly cheese similar to a manchego.Ìę

Irina Sazonova, Gymnast, Iceland

In her hometown of Reykjavik, the nation’s capital, 24-year-old gymnast Irina Sazonova prefers meat-centric dishes like kjötsĂșpa (Icelandic lamb soup). The lean meat is raised more responsibly than anywhere else in the world thanks to Iceland’s robust agriculture regulations. Cuts are often served bone-in, and the soup adjoins plenty of thyme, oregano, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, brown rice, and rutabaga (turnip). Ìę

Annika Langvad, Cross-Country Mountain Biker, Denmark

When in Copenhagen, childhood staples reign supreme for daytime snacks, and it’s all about the nationwide-favorite smĂžrrebrĂžd at lunch. ForÌęLangvad, a small, thin slice of Danish-style rye bread serves as the base for the open-faced sandwich.ÌęHer favorite topping combination includes warm leverpostej (liver patĂ©Ìęmeat spread) with pickled beets and fresh herbs. The Danes often take their smĂžrrebrĂžd simple, like Langvad’s, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find tricked-out combinations, like a smoked halibut rillette with pickled radish, capers, and rosemary.

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