Three athletes test positive in Tokyo Olympics disaster

The Olympics are in tatters with athletes testing positive in Tokyo on the same day the majority of Australia’s team entered the Olympic Village.

Tokyo is hosting the most fragile Olympics in history.

Two athletes have become the first to test positive for Covid-19 inside the Tokyo Olympic Village, officials said on Sunday.

It comes as widespread reports a third athlete has also tested positive at Tokyo Airport on the same day the majority of the Aussie team entered the Village for the first time.

Concerns remain high just days before the Games open with thousands of the world’s athletes flying in to Tokyo in recent days — including large sections of Australia’s 472-person Olympic team.

The cases were revealed a day after an unidentified person became the first to test positive in the Village, which will house thousands of competitors during the Games.

The bombshell news was confirmed by the Tokyo Organising Committee just minutes after it was first reported that the entire Australian athletics team had been forced into lockdown as a result of an inconclusive test within the camp.

On Saturday the first positive case inside the Village was reported — confirming the worst fears of Olympics officials, just days out from the opening ceremony.

The news of two athletes contracting Covid-19 came just 12 hours after the chief of the Tokyo Olympics tried to reassure “worried” athletes.

About 11,000 athletes and tens of thousands of officials and media are flying in for the Games, which open on Friday in the face of widespread public concern over a possible surge in infections.

Part of the Olympic village (foreground) is pictured in Tokyo.

The capital remains under a coronavirus state of emergency and has in recent days recorded its highest case numbers since January.

No details were given about the positive test in the Village, one of 15 Games-related cases revealed on Saturday — the highest figure this month. Japanese media said the infected person came from abroad.

“That was the very first case in the Village that was reported during the screening test,” Masa Takaya, spokesman for the Tokyo organising committee, told a press conference.

“Right now this person is confined to a hotel,” he said.

It comes after the Australian team had its first athlete test positive on Friday with the AOC announcing tennis star Alex de Minaur contracted coronavirus and had been forced to withdraw from the Australian Olympic team.

On Saturday, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach appealed for Japanese fans to get behind the Games, saying he was “very well aware of the scepticism” surrounding the event.