Tokyo Olympics 2021: Dutch tennis player Jean-Julien Rojer returns positive Covid test
Tennis’ rocky history with Covid has followed the sport to Tokyo with a doubles gun forced into isolation after returning a positive test.
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Another Olympic athlete has tested positive to Covid-19, with Dutch doubles player Jean-Julien Rojer withdrawn from the tournament and placed in isolation following the news on Monday.
Rojer and his doubles partner, Wesley Koolhof, were withdrawn from the men’s doubles, giving a walkover to New Zealand duo Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell - who advance to the quarter finals.
The Dutch pair had beaten Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in straight sets on Saturday.
Tennis has had a rocky history with Covid, with Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev infamously contracting the disease during an ill-fated tournament last year.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur withdrew from the Games on the eve of the Olympics when he tested positive at his base in Spain, while American Coco Gauff was a similarly late scratching due to Covid.
Dutch team fighting Covid scares
The Dutch rowing team is self-isolating at the Tokyo Olympics after a spate of coronavirus infections in the camp, director Hessel Evertse said on Monday.
Coach Josy Verdonkschot is quarantining after testing positive for Covid-19 following a positive test for 21-year-old men’s single sculls competitor Finn Florijn.
Last week a staff member on the team also tested positive.
High-performance director of rowing Evertse said the Netherlands team had decided to take the action.
“As there are no official close contacts there is no official need to do what we do,” he said.
“In good understanding we agreed with the IF (international federation) and OC (national Olympic committee) to take these measures.
“In order to get trust and confidence with other countries and especially the volunteers we are happy to cooperate.
“We focus on what we do have -- a good bed, a good meal, a good practice in order to get what we are here for, our best race.”
He said all the tests carried out on Monday returned negative results. Olympic organisers on Sunday took the decision to postpone Tuesday’s rowing finals because of the danger of strong winds as a result of an approaching tropical storm.
US GOLF STAR OUT OF OLYMPICS AFTER POSITIVE COVID TEST
Former US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau is out of the Olympics after testing positive for coronavirus, the PGA Tour announced on Sunday, saying Patrick Reed would take his place at the Tokyo Games.
“Bryson DeChambeau tested positive for Covid-19 as part of the final testing protocol before he left the United States for the Olympics 2020 in Japan,” the PGA said in a statement on behalf of USA Golf.
“He will be unable to compete for Team USA.
“Patrick Reed will replace DeChambeau and is undergoing the requisite testing protocol today.”
Jab shock: 100 US Olympic athletes unvaccinated
At least 100 members of America’s Olympic team have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to US Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s chief medical officer Dr Jonathan Finnoff.
Dr Finnoff told NBC News just before the Opening Ceremony that the number was taken from the health histories that 567 of the US athletes filled out before they left for Japan, said Dr Finnoff, who estimated that 83 per cent of those American competitors were fully vaccinated.
“Eighty-three per cent is actually a substantial number, and we’re quite happy with it,” Dr Finnoff said.
More recently, controversy has swirled around US swimmer Michael Andrew and his refusal to receive a coronavirus vaccination for the Games, which has reportedly caused a rift among the American team.
The American team has 613 athletes competing in Tokyo.
The International Olympic Committee has estimated around 85 per cent of residents of the Olympic Village are vaccinated, a number that’s based that on what each country’s Olympic committee reports.
“The best thing to do is to assume everyone’s at risk, and reduce risk by introducing Covid mitigation measures that we know work,” Dr Finnoff said.
So far, two American athletes — beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb and Kara Eaker, an alternate on the gymnastics team — are known to have tested positive. The IOC has reported 13 positives among all athletes in Japan.
PROTESTERS TELL GAMES ORGANISERS TO ‘GO TO HELL’
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters marched through Tokyo yesterday toward the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games — chanting for organisers to “go to hell” for holding the event despite the pandemic, videos show.
Just an hour before the Games started, a mass of people had gathered in Harajuku, the main shopping district in Tokyo, with police shutting down a major roadway as the marchers set off, the Washington Post said.
“Go to hell, Olympics!” the group chanted as it marched toward the National Stadium, where the public was locked out of the opening ceremony because of COVID-19 fears.
“Go to hell, IOC,” the marchers also chanted, referring to the International Olympic Committee, according to the Washington Post’s video.
The protesters chanted and waved flags and signs blaming the IOC and Tokyo 2020 officials for potentially spreading the coronavirus by allowing foreigners into the country for the global event, the outlet said.
Many wore white surgical masks and carried placards that read “Lives Over Olympics.”
The chants were so loud, they were audible inside the stadium when the music was cut for a moment of silence for those who had died of Covid, the Associated Press said.
“Go to hell, IOC,†“go to hell, Olympics†with 30 minutes to go until the opening ceremony pic.twitter.com/A4SmV3s9JF
— Michelle Ye Hee Lee (@myhlee) July 23, 2021
“It’s unbelievable that the Olympics are happening in this pandemic situation,” protester Kumiko Sudo, 50, told the Washington Post while holding a makeshift Olympic torch converted with anti-Olympic stickers.
There has also been widespread anger that the usual watching public is being kept from the events that are usually packed with spectators from around the world.
Fewer than 1,000 VIP guests were invited to the event — but large crowds still gathered outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ceremonies, the outlet noted.
Only a third of the nation has had even one dose of vaccines, prompting worries that the Games could become a superspreader event. More than 100 people involved with the Olympics have already tested positive.
JAB SCANDAL AS Covid RIPS THROUGH CZECH TEAM
Meanwhile, the Czech Olympic team received sharp words from their prime minister on Thursday as six athletes and officials on the same flight to Tokyo tested positive for coronavirus.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis called the situation “a scandal” as beach volleyball player Marketa Nausch Slukova and road cyclist Michal Schlegel tested positive in the Olympic Village.
They took the tally of Covid-hit athletes in the Czech team to four, while two other staff also tested positive. “I don’t like this one bit. I don’t understand how it could happen,” Babis told reporters.
Nausch Slukova’s Austrian coach and husband Simon Nausch tested positive earlier this week along with another beach volleyball player, Ondrej Perusic, and table tennis hope Pavel Sirucek. Czech Olympic team doctor Vlastimil Voracek tested positive on arrival in Tokyo. Czech Olympic Committee spokesman Tibor Alfoldi confirmed that all five were on the same flight. Schlegel’s positive test was confirmed later on Thursday.
The cyclist also arrived on the same plane. Nausch Slukova’s positive test rules her and teammate Barbora Hermannova out of the Olympics.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m terribly disappointed,” Nausch Slukova, who was fifth at London 2012 with Kristyna Kolocova, said in a statement.
“We keep persuading people to get vaccinated, and the doctor was not vaccinated. It’s unfair to the athletes above all,” Prime Minister Babis said. Olympic team head Martin Doktor said the Czech Olympic Committee had launched a probe into the Covid cluster.
“The situation is serious but since the problem emerged, we have done our best to stop the spread,” said Doktor.
“Unfortunately, we could not avoid sporting tragedies. I’m terribly sorry,” he added.
David Travnicek, head of the Sport Invest agency representing Nausch Slukova, did not mince his words. “The incredibly underestimated logistics are pure amateurism in our eyes,” he said. “It is a failure of the person in charge of the charter flight, not of the people on board.”
IS TEAM USA DIVIDED OVER Covid?
US Olympic officials defended maverick swimmer Michael Andrew’s refusal to receive a coronavirus vaccination for the Tokyo Games, denying it had caused a rift among the American team.
Andrew, 22, has been outspoken about rejecting Covid-19 jabs, telling reporters last month he “didn’t want to put anything in my body that I didn’t know how I would potentially react to”.
He also declared in an interview last week that “as an American, I’m representing my country in multiple ways (including) the freedoms we have to make a decision like that”.
Andrew’s stance has drawn criticism from retired US swim star Maya DiRado, who said her compatriot was putting his own beliefs before the health of his teammates.
“That Michael would make a decision that puts even a bit of risk on his teammates for his own perceived wellbeing frustrates me,” DiRado, a two-time gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Games, wrote on social media.
The US swim team men’s head coach Dave Durden said he had no issues with the decision taken by Andrew, who qualified for his first Olympics in the 50m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
“I feel very comfortable about what he’s doing, where he’s at and how he’s operating,” Durden told reporters in Tokyo, which is under a state of emergency due to a spike of infections in recent weeks.
“He’s doing awesome and now we’re just focused on getting him swimming fast.” Asked how Andrew’s teammates and the wider community of athletes in the Olympic Village felt, Durden replied: “(There’s) no resentment and we’ve felt no vibe with it.” Durden said Andrew was abiding by the strict health protocols in place for the Games, including extensive Covid-19 testing, masking and social distancing.
“It’s a team thing that we really support each other on and Michael’s no different in that regard,” he said.
Andrew has followed an unconventional path since turning professional at just 14, training using a race-paced concept that features much less distance swimming at race speed and does not include weights.
The Tokyo Olympics were delayed for a year because of the pandemic and there have already been dozens of Games-related coronavirus cases ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony
GUINEA ARE BACK
The West African state of Guinea on Thursday said it was scrapping its decision to withdraw its five-person team from the Olympics, a move that it had said was prompted by worries over coronavirus.
“The government, after receiving assurances from the health authorities, is giving its agreement for our athletes to take part,” Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow said in a statement.
The move reverses a decision on Wednesday which cancelled the country’s participation in the Tokyo Olympics due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, a source close to the government in the capital Conakry had said that the decision not to send its five-person team stemmed from financial constraints.
“The ministry cannot pay,” the source had said.
Local media also had claimed financial rather than health motives prompted the withdrawal by Guinea, which has never won a medal in 11 appearances at the Olympics.
Guinea’s five-strong team comprises Fatoumata Yarie Camara (freestyle wrestling), Mamadou Samba Bah (judo), Fatoumata Lamarana Toure and Mamadou Tahirou Bah (swimming) and Aissata Deen Conte (athletics, women’s 100m).
Originally published as Tokyo Olympics 2021: Dutch tennis player Jean-Julien Rojer returns positive Covid test
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