US women’s gymnastics alternate tests positive for COVID
An alternate on the United States women’s gymnastics team has tested positive for COVID-19 in a training camp in Japan, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said Monday.
The USOPC did not say if Olympic champion Simone Biles or any of the other favorites to win the team gold were isolated because of contact tracing. The positive Covid test was the latest in a growing line of daily reports. A spate of athletes and others are testing positive at the pandemic-delayed Olympics. The unnamed gymnast was the first American.
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The four alternates — Leanne Wong, Kayla DiCello, Emma Malabuyo and Kara Eaker — traveled to Japan with the six-woman U.S. delegation of Biles, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, Sunisa Lee, MyKayla Skinner and Jade Carey.
The alternates are rooming and training with the alternates. While they have been traveling to training along with the actual team, they have been split into groups, with the team working on one apparatus while the alternates work on another.
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The Games are set to open on Friday with a state of emergency in force in Tokyo. As a result, almost all venues will be without any fans with new cases rising in the capital. The women’s gymnastic team begins competing on Sunday.
The U.S. officials said the test took place when the team was training just outside Tokyo in Inzai City. Team members arrived last week for the camp to great fanfare at Narita airport.
