COVID-19 hits two Olympic athletes

Results follow positive test of non-athlete

TOKYO • Two athletes staying in the Olympic Village tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Sunday, the first instances of athlete infections in the Village, underscoring growing fears about the spread of the virus during the Games that are set to begin in five days.

That means three people have now tested positive in the Village, an area of Tokyo where Games personnel reside, dine and get tested and is closed off to the public. On Saturday, officials confirmed the first positive case of a non-athlete in the Village. All three people came from the same country and are participating in the same sport, and have been isolated in individual rooms, officials said Sunday. The rest of their teammates have also been tested and isolated, they said.

Also Sunday, the South African Football Association announced that three members of its soccer delegation to the Olympics — two players and a video analyst — tested positive for coronavirus, Reuters reported.

Thousands of athletes and other accredited personnel are now entering Japan ahead of the Games, which are set to begin Friday amid a state of emergency due to rising coronavirus cases in the country’s capital. Japan has barred all spectators from Olympic events in and around Tokyo in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, but public support for the Games remains lukewarm.

So far, 55 people affiliated with the Games have tested positive for the coronavirus since the committee began tracking infections earlier this month.

Officials said Sunday they are working to minimize risk as quickly as possible when an individual tests positive, isolating the person and anyone who had come in close contact with them. Those who test positive or come in close contact must train separately, be transported individually and have meals delivered to their individual rooms. After a certain number of tests and amount of time appropriate for each case, the individual can return to compete.

Olympic officials said they are creating a “COVID safe” environment to ensure positive cases would not spread throughout the Games, and noted that the opportunity for the residents of the Village and the general Japanese public to interact is “incredibly limited.”

“It is unavoidable that we have some cases — we have some cases. What is needed is some swift actions,” International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi said Sunday.

More than 18,000 athletes, officials and journalists have arrived in Japan for the controversial Games, which were postponed a year due to the global pandemic. Officials said between 6,000 and 9,000 athletes and related personnel will stay in the Village at any given point during the Games.

Those arriving from overseas are tested for the coronavirus before taking off and after landing in Tokyo. International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, the subject of repeated criticism over the controversial pandemic Games, this week promised that there is “zero” risk that the virus would spread through the Olympic Village or beyond.