The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee confirmed Monday that an alternate on the women’s gymnastics team had tested positive for the coronavirus. Despite being vaccinated, 18-year-old Kara Eaker tested positive early Monday and began a 10 to 14 day quarantine. Her coach, Al Fong, said in a text message later that day from Tokyo that Eaker “feels fine.” Fong also said that Leanne Wong, another alternate and Eaker’s teammate at his GAGE Center gym in Blue Springs, Mo., is also under quarantine. Wong, who is 17, said at the Olympic trials earlier this month that she had not been vaccinated.
U.S.A. women’s basketball also announced that Katie Lou Samuelson, a member of the 3×3 Olympics team, would miss the Games following a positive test result. Ms. Samuelson was fully vaccinated and took every precaution. Samuelson, 24, wrote in an Instagram post: “Competing in the Olympics has been a dream of mine since I was little girl and I hope someday soon, I can come back to realize that dream.”
Olympics organizers have said repeated testing, social distancing and restrictions on movement would limit, but not eliminate, coronavirus cases. The Games, originally scheduled for 2020, were postponed a year in the hopes the pandemic would have eased. Christophe Dubi, the International Olympic Committee’s sports director, said at a news conference over the weekend “there is no such thing as zero risk,” adding that the Olympic Village would be “a Covid-safe environment but not Covid free.”
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