Olympic hockey teams told to fist-bump, not shake hands due to norovirus

The game-ending hockey handshake is one of the finest traditions in all of sports, but it’s getting iced at the Olympics.

Players are being asked by officials to fist-bump instead of shaking hands to avoid spreading norovirus, a stomach-flu bug that has grown to more than 280 cases at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.

The father of James Wisniewski, a Team USA defenseman, is one of 49 people quarantined with the virus.

Jim Slater, an alternate captain on Team USA, said he’s fine with fist-bumping.

“It’s good,” Slater told the AP. “I do it to everybody. Touching hands and stuff, you never know where hands are. Just being cautious.”

Others are sticking to tradition. The U.S. and Finland women shook hands after their semifinal game on Monday.

“That’s part of what’s special about hockey is the mutual respect and the handshake after,” U.S. forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson said. “In these tournament settings, it’s not prelims anymore, so I think shaking hands … it’s just respect.”