July 26, (THEWILL) – Data tracking of COVID-19 infections linked with the city of Tokyo and with the Olympic Village, where the athletes are settled for their various events, has been a major concern for the International Olympic Committee and local organisers, as they engage measures to keep their promise of a “safe and secure” Games.
Given a day-short update, the organisers have consistently released figures that detail COVID-19 testing and positive case numbers since July 1st for the city and the Village. Current numbers put the figure of infected people connected to the Games at 127 people so far.
Of that number, 71 people are residents of Japan, including contractors and other games-connected personnel and 56 are non-residents, including athletes, members of the media and other games personnel involved in the smooth running of the XXXII Summer Games.
Inside the Olympic Village, the infection rate stands as low as 0.03% and the organisers insist that such a low rate presents nothing to cause panic or worry. And, they are resolved to continue to enforce standards that help to keep rates of infection to the barest minimum for the health and safety of everyone involved.
To that end, the Olympics started and have continued to operate in its bubble environment. There is a mask mandate enforced at all times. Socially distanced spaces have been prescribed for all as have standard measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus such as frequent washing of hands.
Some sport-specific measures have been encouraged, such as clapping rather than singing or yelling to cheer on teammates as that has been the only company athletes have had to engage with in the absence of fans at the event venues.
Other measures keeping the rates of infection limited have included requiring athletes to avoid public transportation and insisting that they only leave their accommodations to go to official Olympic venues for events they are to participate in.
The strictness of these protocols comes from the penalties that a violation of one or more of them carry. According to the IOC and organisers enforcing them, any athletes who is willfully in violation of these protocols could face a range of consequences, including being disqualified from the Games entirely.
Although residing at the Olympic Village is strongly encouraged, it is not compulsory and some countries have lodged their contingents elsewhere. The USA Gymnastics team, for example, is staying in a separate hotel. However, these separate accommodations must have firstly been certified by the organisers.
There is also a protocol for the athletes who return a positive test. Upon the return of a positive result, an athlete is immediately placed into isolation and cannot compete in any event. The length of this isolation period is determined by Japanese health authorities based on the severity of the individual’s symptoms and similar such measures.
There is an IOC sport-specific guideline for how the steps to follow in competitions where a positive result for a team at the group stage or in a knockout round affects the schedule. There are three points that apply across the board for such cases.
(1) No athlete or team will be listed as “disqualified” for returning a positive test. Instead, they will be listed as “DNS” (Did Not Start) or some sport-equivalent designation if they are unable to compete.
(2) According to the IOC Executive Board: “The minimum result of the athlete/team will be protected, considering the phase of competition at which they could not compete.”
(3) The next most eligible athlete or team will replace an athlete or team unable to compete whenever possible to allow the competition to proceed as usual.
These are all ways and means the IOC and the Local Organising Committee have applied their formulated playbook to handle the unusual circumstances the Tokyo Olympics have found themselves in, to ensure that the Games occurring in a still raging global pandemic can be carried out with a measure of success for the organisers and accomplishments for the athletes.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
