As Covid outbreak worsens, Fijian athletes board plane for Olympics

As Fiji battles one of the world’s fastest growing coronavirus outbreaks, the Pacific Islands Olympic team departed for Tokyo on Thursday aboard a cargo plane.

Their traveling companions? A cargo of frozen fish.

The coronavirus outbreak had thwarted plans to bring athletes to Japan on regular planes after nearly all passenger flights from the country were suspended until the end of July. Only a small number of repatriation and cargo flights were allowed to leave.

The country has been hit by the Delta variant of the virus, with an average of 57 new daily cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Just over 6% of the population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Arranging the trip was therefore a “logistical challenge,” Lorraine Mar, executive director of the Fijian Sports Association and the National Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press. The solution: a cargo plane carrying mostly frozen seafood, with just enough space for passengers and other officials.

This contrasts sharply with the flashier modes of transportation of other Olympians: American basketball players Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton can fly to Tokyo by private plane due to scheduling conflicts, while team members British Olympic Games departed from Heathrow Airport in London. Tuesday wearing tracksuits matching their team colors.

At around midnight local time, around 50 Fijian athletes and officials, including the country’s men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams, boarded the flight from Nadi, the main international airport, to Tokyo ahead of the Games. summer.

Before boarding, the team members spent 96 hours in isolation and underwent tests 72 hours before departure, following guidelines set by authorities in Tokyo. A Fiji Olympic team official who tested positive for Covid-19 has been removed from the event.

Ahead of the team’s departure, the country’s National Olympic Committee released a video showing masked supporters waving the sky-blue Fiji flag as they waved goodbye.

The country will compete in six sports, including archery, judo and table tennis. In 2016, 60 years after the country’s first appearance in the Olympics, Fiji won their first medal when the men’s rugby team triumphed in the inaugural Olympic Rugby Sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro.