SA ballers first positive COVID athletes in Olympic Village

TOKYO, Japan (AP):

Two South African football players have become the first athletes inside the Olympic Village to test positive for COVID-19, with the Tokyo Games opening on Friday.

Organisers confirmed the positive tests yesterday, but did not identify the athletes other than to say they were non-Japanese. The South African Football Association (SAFA) later confirmed there were three COVID-19 cases in its delegation — two players and a video analyst.

The players were defender Thabiso Monyane and midfielder Kamohelo Mahlatsi, SAFA said.

The South African football squad had been quarantined and was waiting for the results of further tests conducted on players and back-room staff yesterday, team manager Mxolisi Sibam said in a statement.

The South Africans are due to play Japan in their first game of the men's football competition on Thursday at Tokyo Stadium.

Organisers also said yesterday that another athlete had tested positive, but this person was not residing in the Olympic Village. This athlete was also identified as "non-Japanese".

Also yesterday, the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) member was reported as positive. He recorded a positive test on Saturday upon entering a Tokyo airport.

The IOC confirmed the test and identified him as Ryu Seung-min of South Korea. He won an Olympic gold medal in table tennis in the 2004 Olympics. He was reportedly being held in isolation. Reports said he was asymptomatic.

IOC President Thomas Bach said last week there was "zero" risk of athletes in the village passing on the virus to Japanese or other residents of the village.

Organisers say since July 1, 55 people linked to the Olympics have reported positive tests. This figure does not include athletes or others who may have arrived for training camps, but are not yet under the "jurisdiction" of the organising committee.

The Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay will house 11,000 Olympic athletes and thousands of support staff.

Tokyo reported 1,008 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, the 29th straight day that cases were higher than seven days previously. It was also the fifth straight day with more than 1,000 cases reported.

About 200 protesters gathered yesterday outside Shinjuku station in central Tokyo, waving signs that read 'No Olympics'. It was the latest in a series of small protests over the last few months targeting the Games.

"We are not only protesting the Olympics," protester Karoi Todo told The Associated Press. "We are opposing the government overall — this is ignoring human rights and our right to life. Infections are increasing. To do the Olympics is unforgivable."