Tokyo Games: Chilean Taekwondo Player, Dutch Skateboarder Out Of Olympics After Testing Positive For COVID-19

Four competitors including a shooting world number one saw their Tokyo Olympic dreams dashed on Wednesday after testing positive for the coronavirus. British shooter Amber Hill, top-ranked in the women's skeet, was forced to pull out before she departed for Japan after testing positive. "After five years of training and preparation, I'm absolutely devastated," she said in a team statement. Table tennis player Pavel Sirucek became the third member of the Czech delegation to test positive for Covid-19 in the Athletes' Village, the team said.

The Tokyo Olympics are being staged in biosecure "bubble" conditions, with athletes tested daily and under orders to stay socially distanced and wear masks when not competing, training, eating or sleeping.

But the latest cases show that competitors are treading a fine line.

Chilean Taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre and Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs were on Wednesday ruled out of the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, less than two days before the showpiece opens amid palpable health safety concerns. Aguirre tested positive in an on-arrival test at the airport here, while Jacobs' result was revealed at the Games village, making her the sixth resident of the facility to be detected with the infection. 

"Fernanda Aguirre has tested positive for Covid-19 in the tests carried out on her arrival in Japan," Chile's National Olympic Committee said in a statement.

Jacobs posted a message on her Instagram page to announce that her Olympic campaign was now over. 

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"I am heartbroken. Unfortunately I tested positive for COVID-19 this morning, which means my Olympic journey ends here...have done everything in my power to prevent this scenario and took all the precautions," she posted. 

Aguirre travelled to Tokyo from Uzbekistan with negative COVID report but tested positive in both the antigen and PCR tests conducted at the airport here, following which she was quarantined at a designated facility. 

"The athlete is asymptomatic and in good health, but unfortunately she will not be able to compete in this event because the Japanese health authorities impose a quarantine of at least 10 days," the Chile NOC stated. The Taekwondo event gets underway on Saturday. Her coach Jose Zapata has also been quarantined despite negative tests as he was deemed a close contact. Aguirre was one of the eight COVID-19 cases among Games-related personnel revealed by the organising committee on Wednesday. 

Before Aguirre and Jacobs, five athletes, three of them residing at the Games village, were found to be infected by the virus but none of them on arrival at the airport. 

The total number of Games-related COVID-cases have risen to 75 with the addition of eight cases on Wednesday. The COVID-hit Olympics will open on Friday and will go on till August 8 without any spectators.