Summer Games in Tokyo: First corona case before the Olympics for athletes who have entered

One month before the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, there is the first corona case among incoming athletes.

As the Japanese government announced on Sunday, a member of the Olympic team from Uganda tested positive for the virus upon arrival at Narita International Airport near Tokyo and was prevented from entering the country.

The other eight delegation members traveled by bus to their host city of Izumisano in the western Osaka Prefecture.

The team from Uganada, which participates in the boxing, weightlifting and swimming competitions, is the second group from abroad after the women's softball team from Australia who traveled to games.

The unnamed athlete from Uganda was vaccinated like his teammates and, as required, submitted a negative test report within 72 hours before leaving for Japan, reported the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The mayor of Izumisano, Hiroyasu Chiyomatsu, said that the other eight team members who had traveled would be asked not to train for the time being and to be tested daily for the corona virus.

The team's departure from Uganda was delayed by three days because the number of infections in the African country had risen.

No condoms for the athletes

According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), 80 percent of athletes in the Olympic Village will be vaccinated by the start of the Olympic Games.

The mega-event had been postponed for a year due to the pandemic.

The games are now to be held from July 23rd to August 8th under strict hygiene and corona rules.

Japan and the IOC keep stressing that they are "safe" for everyone.

The organizers promise safe games despite the corona pandemic, but safe sex in the Olympic village is being prevented. As the organizers announced on Sunday, contrary to tradition, the Olympians will not receive condoms this time - as a precautionary measure against the spread of the corona virus. Since the 1988 Seoul Games, it has been the practice at the Olympics for athletes to be provided with condoms during the Games. This time, however, they will not get the 160,000 planned contraceptives until they leave Japan, it said.

The athletes at the Tokyo Games are subject to very strict rules of hygiene and behavior. They are asked to adhere to distance rules in the Olympic Village and to avoid “unnecessary forms of physical contact”. In the event of a violation, the participants face sometimes draconian penalties, from fines to disqualification and expulsion from Japan.