No hugs please: IOC warns athletes to celebrate within strict Covid rules
THE International Olympic Committee has conceded ground and allowed winning athletes to take off their masks on the podium for 30 seconds for photographs.
The move came after the IOC initially warned athletes to follow the Covid rules, after medal-winning swimmers were photographed hugging without wearing masks.
US and French supporters were also cheering loudly at the pool, prompting a warning from the IOC that athletes should follow the Covid rules – which order athletes to stay 1.5m apart, and bans handshakes, high-fives, hugs and cheering.
Athletes are even required to put their medals around their own necks to avoid cross-contamination.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on Sunday there had been no relaxation of the rules.
Adams said the IOC “urged and asked’’ teams to obey the rules.
“It’s not a ‘nice to have’, it’s a ‘must have’,’’ he said at the daily briefing.
He said the IOC understood the impact of the rules on competitors, saying, “we feel for the athletes”.
The issue would be discussed at the daily chef de mission meetings in the athletes’ village.
“It’s in everyone’s interests we do obey the rules,” Adams said.
But swimmers hit back, saying they had not broken the rules and were following officials’ instructions.
The swimmers said a volunteer had a sign saying “mask on” and “mask off” for various points of the medal ceremonies, mainly to allow the photographers, positioned 10m away, to get photos of their faces.
The US winner of the 400m individual medley, Chase Kalisz, said: “There was someone holding a sign saying ‘mask on’ and one with ‘mask off’, so that’s what I did.”