Before the openingceremony of Tokyo Olympics 2020, two more players have been tested positive forCovid-19. Two athletes were among four residents of the Olympic Village whowere added to the tally today of people accredited for the Tokyo Games who havetested positive for Covid-19 this month, bringing the number to 91.
Those two players areSkateboarder Candy Jacobs of the Netherlands and table tennis player PavelSirucek of the Czech Republic. As soon as they were tested positive, they wereimmediately shifted to a hotel for quarantine on Wednesday.
Two additional“Games-concerned personnel” — a category that includes team coaches andofficials — staying in the village overlooking Tokyo Bay were included in the91 total cases listed by organizers since July 1.
That number does notinclude athletes who tested positive at home before their scheduled travel toTokyo for events they will now miss.
Earlier, Russianswimmer Ilya Borodin, the European champion in the 400-meter individual medley,was also ruled out of the Olympics after testing positive for the dreadedvirus.
The Russian SwimmingFederation says Borodin tested positive at a training camp in the city ofVladivostok in the Russian Far East.
The positive testcame shortly before he was expected to travel to Japan with other Russianswimmers.
The Japanese public,as well as many international observers, have voiced alarm over the Games goingforward as Japan struggles to rein in its latest coronavirus outbreak.
Olympic officialshave been at pains to play down the health risks of the Games, which are takingplace in stringent anti-coronavirus conditions with athletes tested daily.