First case of Covid-19 reported in the Olympic village a few days before the opening ceremony of the games

TOKYO – The Covid-19 has infiltrated the Olympic Village.

A day after the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, insisted that there was “no risk” of the athletes infecting anyone outside the cordoned off section of Tokyo, the committee chairman of organization confirmed on Saturday that a person staying there had tested positive for the disease.

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto told a press conference that the infected person was not an athlete but rather someone involved in organizing the games. She declined to identify the individual’s nationality, but admitted the revelation would not reassure her nervous compatriots.

“I understand that there are still many worrying factors,” Hashimoto said. “The organizers must try to make sure that people understand that these games are safe and secure.”

“We are sparing no effort,” she added.

With polls showing many Japanese opposed to holding the sport’s centerpiece amid a pandemic, ‘safe and secure’ has become the mantra of the Japanese government and IOC officials working hard to reassure the country that the he sudden influx of athletes and visitors from overseas won does not turn the games into a major Olympic event.

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Most of the 11,000 athletes participating in the games, which begin July 23 and run through August 8, will remain in the 109-acre waterfront.

Most are still on their way to Japan, but already around 40 people linked to the Games – both local Japanese and foreigners – have tested positive for Covid-19, Olympic officials said.

An alarming increase in new cases of Covid-19 led Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to announce a state of emergency in Tokyo last week. As a result, there will be no fans cheering on these athletes and iconic Olympic events like the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are likely to lack the pomp and pageantry of previous games.

Meanwhile, the Ugandan Olympic team was drawing international attention for all the wrong reasons.

Two members of the Ugandan Olympic delegation, an athlete in his twenties and a coach in his fifties, became the first contestants to test positive for Covid-19 last month upon arrival in Tokyo and were banned from going any further. far.

Perhaps more embarrassing for Ugandan and Japanese customs officials tasked with preventing the spread of the pandemic, the rest of the team were allowed to go to their training camp near the city of Osaka even though they had been in close contact with their infected teammates.

Then on Friday, a 20-year-old Ugandan weightlifter named Julius Ssekitoleko who had failed to earn a spot on the team, was reported missing after showing up for a Covid-19 test at training camp, which is located near Osaka in Izumisano.

“They are still looking for this athlete,” Hashimoto said on Saturday.

When asked if Ssekitoleko’s days as an Olympic hopeful were over, Hashimoto said: “I have not received any report that anyone has found him, but unless I hear his explanation. , it is difficult for us to decide what action to take. “

Beatrice Ayikoru, who heads the Ugandan delegation, said Ssekitoleko and his coach were due to return to Uganda on Tuesday. She said he left a note saying he wanted to stay in Japan and find work.

But during team meetings in Uganda and Japan, Ayikoru told the Japan Times that they repeatedly stressed “the need to comply with Japan’s immigration regulations and not choose to leave the camp. without authorization”.

Uganda has participated in the Summer Olympics since 1956 and has won a total of seven medals – two gold, three silver, two bronze.

Four of the medals Uganda won were for boxing. The others were for athletics. And the last time a Ugandan won a medal was at the 2012 Olympics in London, when long-distance runner Stephen Kiprotich won the marathon and the gold medal.