Jon Rahm Sin Juegos after his second positive for covid in two months: "Fate has other plans for me"
The news of
Jon Rahm's
positive for Covid19
shook like a tsunami in the early Spanish morning.
A news that meant the mandatory resignation of the world's number one to the Olympic event, a particularly cruel circumstance for him, taking into account that it is his second positive after the one detected in June.
So far a host of inexplicable circumstances beyond human control.
But the soap opera begins to get complicated when at 9:02 in the morning of Sunday, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation sends a statement with the withdrawal of Rahm and ends the text stating: "No material time to find a substitute and meet all the sanitary protocols that are required in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Spanish golf will only be represented, in the men's category, by
Adri Arnaus
".
At that time, while the networks burned due to the alleged lack of foresight of the Spanish delegation,
Jorge Campillo
, registered by the RFEG in the last place on the list of Olympic athletes, contacted the president of the Federation to express his desire to rush all his options to get to Japan before Thursday and participate in the tournament. The loss of the American
Bryson De Chambeau
, also positive, and his immediate replacement by
Patrick Reed
, put gasoline on the fire.
"Doing the math, it was difficult for a player to arrive with all the health protocols, hence at the beginning we made the decision not to send anyone", explains from Tokyo,
Nacho Gervás
, the sports director of the Royal Spanish Federation of Golf.
However, Campillo's firm decision changes the perspective and all the protocols are activated so that he can reach Tokyo.
But there is another problem behind, the next player in the ranking is the Galician
Santiago Tarrío
and not Jorge Campillo.
"The mistake is ours, we cannot hide it"
"The error is ours, we cannot hide it", admits Gervás. "We have to deliver a previous list with the possible Olympic players. It is an uncomfortable protocol for the players, since they have to be monitored, fill out forms ... and we drew up that list for the month of March with five names among those who did not Tarrío was there. At that time he was not close to the top positions. "
The Federation sent that first list with the five best players in the ranking at that time. The list included Rahm,
Sergio García
,
Cabrera-Bello
, Arnaus and Campillo. But circumstances caused the Spanish players to fall off the list, while Tarrío achieved two victories on the Challenge Tour and became the fifth player in the ranking at the end of June. However, the list was never updated and the Olympic Committee does not allow unregistered athletes to compete. "All the adverse circumstances have occurred. Although the normal thing is that the players who do not have options in principle do not want to be on that list, since it is uncomfortable, we had to have anticipated it," admits Gervás, also captain of the Spanish men's team.
Santiago Tarrío: "It is a very great injustice"
Once the situation was known, Tarrío addressed this ostensibly affected newspaper: "It is confirmed that we cannot go, as we are not in the pre-list that was made in March. It is a very great injustice. It is true that I was far away then, but all my team deserves it. "
"I didn't even know that there was a list, I was surprised that no one from the RFEG contacted us even to ask about the clothing size, just in case ... Obviously, I have never been to an Olympic Games and I don't know how it works" , he explained.
"It's about having resilience. I'm very screwed up, especially by my team. It was a unique opportunity, I understand that it is a mistake that can happen, but it is a very expensive mistake for me and there is no way to compensate for it. Touching to keep working and trying be within three years, "he concluded.
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