DeChambeau, Rahm out of Olympics after positive COVID tests
Known for their towering drives, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm won’t make it to the tee box at the Olympics.
The past two U.S. Open champions became the best-known athletes to drop out of the Tokyo Games on Sunday after testing positive for COVID-19.
DeChambeau’s positive came before he left the United States for Tokyo. The musclebound American famous for his gamechanging swing speed will replaced by Patrick Reed.
“I am deeply disappointed not to be able to compete in the Olympics for Team USA,” DeChambeau said in a statement. “Representing my country means the world to me and it is was a tremendous honor to make this team.”
Rahm was flagged for COVID-19 for the second time in two months — he had a sixshot lead at the Memorial in early June when he was forced to withdraw because of a positive test.
The Spaniard said he had gotten his final vaccine shot fewer than 14 days before that positive.
Both players recently became first-time major champions. DeChambeau won the U.S. Open in 2020 at Winged Foot last fall, and Rahm took this year’s title at Torrey Pines in June, two weeks after the positive test at Muirfield Village.
Several dozen Olympic athletes have tested positive either before leaving for Tokyo or after they arrived.
Last week, U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff also tested positive before she left the United States.
Reed was scheduled to undergo testing Sunday and today to clear himself to compete in Tokyo.
The the first round of the men’s tournament at the Kasumigaseki Country Club is set for Thursday. He will join Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele on the fourman U.S team.
Spain said it would not seek to replace Rahm, leaving Adri Arnaus as its only player in the men’s tournament, which starts Thursday at Kasumigaseki Country Club outside of Tokyo.
Osaka’s debut
Naomi Osaka got back on the court — and back in front of reporters’ microphones — for the first time since withdrawing from the French Open in May to take a mental health break.
The Japanese superstar who lit the Olympic cauldron defeated 52nd-ranked Zheng Saisai of China 6-1, 6-4 in her opening match.
Osaka revealed in May that she has dealt with depression and stopped talking with reporters, saying the experience gave her “huge waves of anxiety.”
She said she was “happy” that journalists were asking her questions, then added: “I feel a little bit out of my body right now.”
“More than anything else I’m just focused on playing tennis,” she added.
Fighting family
Japanese siblings Hifumi and Uta Abe each won gold medals in judo, giving the host country three golds in its beloved homegrown martial art.
Hifumi triumphed in the men’s 66-kilogram category shortly after Uta won the women’s 52-kilogram division at the Budokan.
Hifumi won all four of hits bouts Sunday, including over Georgia’s Vazha Margvelashvili by ippon in the final. Uta beat Amandine Buchard of France to win her own first Olympic gold.