As an Olympic reporter from Germany who has been on the road for more than 24 hours, there is one sound that you cannot ignore, even in a puffing bus that is dragging itself along the mountain roads of the Chinese province of Hebei: the ringing of the iPhone.
As if Apple had installed a seventh sense in our bodies for its ringtone.
Or were we the ones who entrusted everything to our smartphones?
Well, anyway, it feels wrong to complain about Apple and Big Data in this part of the world.
So where does the ringing come from?
The FAZ Olympic cell phone (being scrapped in Germany) is muted – and the other reporters from the plane who were also on the bus got off at a hotel a few minutes ago.
Well then, get up, search.
The ringing gets louder.
The mobile phone is on a seat in the last row.
Must belong to one of the cool kids.
The name of the caller is on the screen: Norbert König.
Just like the ZDF sports moderator, who, according to a quick Google search (thanks to the VPN!), has reported on all the Olympic Games since 1988.
A swipe across the display.
call accepted.
"Hello?" "Hello, this is Norbert König," says a man who really sounds like Norbert König.
"You found Toni Innauer's mobile phone." So this is the cool one from the back row: Toni Innauer, 63 years old, Austrian, ski jumping Olympic champion in 1980 and ski jumping expert for ZDF.
At his request, the mobile phone is handed over to a volunteer at the FAZ hotel, who is supposed to bring it to the ZDF hotel.
Has it arrived?
No idea.
Of course we didn't save Innauer's number on the bus.
So much data protection must also be in China!