Dutch skateboarder, Chilean player, Czech paddler test +ve

Tokyo: Three athletes belonging to three different countries were ruled out of the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19 here on Wednesday, less than two days before the showpiece opens amid mounting health safety concerns.

Chilean Taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre, Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs and Czech TT player Pavel Sirucek were on Wednesday forced to withdraw from their respective events and placed in quarantine.

Also, reports stated that American beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb too has tested positive for COVID-19 and is likely to be ruled out of competition. However, there was no official confirmation on this.

Aguirre tested positive in an on-arrival test at the airport here, while Jacobs' and Sirucek's results were revealed at the Games village, taking the total number of cases at the high-security facility

to seven.

"Fernanda Aguirre has tested positive for Covid-19 in the tests carried out on her arrival in Japan," Chile's National Olympic Committee said in a statement.

Jacobs posted a message on her instagram page to announce that her Olympic campaign was now over.

"I am heartbroken. Unfortunately, I tested positive for COVID-19 this morning, which means my Olympic journey ends here...have done everything in my power to prevent this scenario and took all the precautions," she posted.

Sirucek's test was confirmed by the Czech Olympic Committee in a statement, adding to the two cases in the contingent detected till Tuesday.

"He is currently in isolation, as are all three other members of the Czech team, in which antigenic and subsequently PCR tests have detected the presence of the virus in recent days," the Czech NOC stated.

The contingent's sports director Martin Doktor said the situation is beyond their control.

"We are very sorry for the whole situation...none of us can completely control the spread of the virus, no matter how well we protect ourselves. I must say that I admire the attitude with which Pavel, Ondra Perusic (men's beach volleyball) and Simon Nausch (beach volleyball coach), reacted to this situation," he said.