Beijing Olympics 4x100 m Silver Medalist Naoki Tsukahara Becomes First Olympic Medalist to Test Positive for Coronavirus

On Mar. 31 the Fujitsu corporate team announced that 2008 Beijing Olympics men's 4x100 m relay silver medalist Naoki Tsukahara, 34, now a team advisor, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Under medical guidance Tsukahara was hospitalized Mar. 30 at a health center specializing in treatment of infectious disease. He is the first Olympic medalist to have been publicly revealed to have the coronavirus.

Tsukahara took part in a track and field training program with over 70 participants in Suzuka, Mie as a guest speaker on Mar. 28 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. At 6:00 p.m. he went to a local hospital after beginning to feel unwell and coming down with a fever. When his fever did not come down the following day, a PCR test was conducted by the hospital under the guidance of the specialized health center. His infection with the coronavirus was confirmed on the 30th.

Following the positive result, the Fujitsu corporation disinfected its entire Kawasaki factory, where Tsukahara had been present from the 23rd to the 25th. In order to protect the privacy of its employees, Fujitsu does not disclose the name of the person infected as part of the information it releases necessary for efforts to combat the spread of the virus. This time, however, it made a rare exception to its policy in response to a powerful statement from Tsukahara. "I would like to announce that I am infected with the coronavirus in hope that it will serve to stress to everyone, including people in the athletics world, the importance of efforts to prevent the spread of the infection," he said. "I hope that this can help to minimize the impact of the hardship of those infected upon others."

Tsukahara was the leading runner for Japan's 2008 Beijing Olympics men's 4x100 m relay team along with Shinji Takahira, Shingo Suetsugu and Nobuharu Asahara. At the time the team was awarded the bronze medal, but later winners Jamaica were stripped of their medal for doping violations. In 2019 the Japanese men were elevated to silver.

Following the news of Tsukahara's positive test, Takahira, a former Fujitsu teammate of Tsukahara's and now head of the JAAF Athlete Committee, submitted a stern letter to the JAAF following an emergency online Athlete Committee meeting. On behalf of the Athlete Committee, Takahira demanded that the JAAF step up, take a leadership role in relation to COVID-19, and cancel o all remaining major athletics competitions until the end of May. Writing on Twitter in both Japanese and English, former men's 800 m national record holder Masato Yokota, another committee member and former Fujitsu teammate of Tsukahara's, said, "We, the Athlete Committee of the JAAF, believe that all athletes need to take responsibility for their actions as members of the international community to fight against COVID-19."

source article:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200331-00000119-dal-spo
translated and edited by Brett Larner