Tokyo 2020 - Team GB athletes 'fearful' after teammates entered self-isolation on Sunday
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ByEurosport
Published 19/07/2021 at 21:53 GMT
Six athletes and two staff members of Team GB's athletics squad were put in isolation after coming in contact with a person with Covid-19. A person on the same flight to Tokyo tested positive for the virus and Team GB acted quickly to discover if any of their athletes might have been infected. Those self-isolating have now been training but there are still nerves amongst others in the GB camp.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Village
Image credit: Getty Images
Team GB athletes are "fearful" after six of their teammates were forced to self-isolate when a passenger on their flight to Tokyo tested positive for Covid-19.
The six athletes were granted dispensation to train alone in the team's camp on Monday after displaying no symptoms. They all passed a PCR test and could be back in full training on Tuesday.
But 800m runner Daniel Rowden said many from the Team GB party had been left "in a little bit of a panic".
"To be locked in a room and not be able to train takes away from your confidence, takes away from your preparation,” he said.
"And then also there’s a bit of fear that the same thing could happen to us. Those athletes were on the flight the day before us, so there’s a little bit of trepidation that the same thing could happen to people on our flight as well."
British sprinter Richard Kilty said everyone is slightly anxious they may have been a close Covid contact with someone.
He said: "There is always the worry that you could randomly be pinged for whatever reason, or came into contact with someone, and you don’t get a chance to train or compete.
“If someone was to come and miss out on their individual event this close to the Games it’d be heartbreaking for anybody. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”
British 200m runner Beth Dobbin, meanwhile, said she felt secure in the team’s Yokohama camp.
"You wouldn’t believe how strict it is here,” she said.
"I’ve never experienced anything like it. If I caught Covid here I’d just be so shocked because the only person I’m close to is my roommate and the physio at the track. That is it. We’re literally so isolated."
One of gymnastics superstar Simone Biles’ team-mates has tested positive for Covid-19 at the USA training camp on the outskirts of Tokyo.
The gymnast has not been named, but reports say it is a teenage member of the squad and she would likely have been training at the same facility as four-time gold medallist Biles.
Czech beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic became the third athlete to test positive for Covid-19 at the Olympic Village.
South African footballers Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi also tested positive.
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