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Crisis Situation as 15th Member of Japanese Team Tests Positive for COVID

On July 18, JAAF sprint director Hiroyasu Tsuchie announced that another coach and three more athletes at the Oregon 22 World Championships, 200 m and 4x100 m team member Yuki Koike, 110 m hurdler Shunsuke Izumiya, and 400 m hurdler Takayuki Kishimoto, have tested positive for COVID-19. They bring the total number of people on the Japanese national team to have tested positive at the Championships to 15. "The impact is enormous," said Tsuchie. "Our team this team included a core of younger athletes who had been set to gain valuable experience."

The first athletes to test positive were three of the marathoners, but it has now spread to the sprints and hurdles squads. Koike reported having a fever the morning of the 200 m heats, and when his test results came back positive he was forced to withdraw from what would have been his first race, the 200 m heats. He has also withdrawn from the 4x100 m relay. Tsuchie commented, "Up to this point he had been peaking into excellent condition like the veteran he is, so it's very disappointing for both his individual race and the relay team. I can't imagine how he feels." 

The men's 4x100 m relay heats take place on the eighth day of the meet. Koike was one of the six people entered on the relay team, which will be going for its third-straight World Championships medal. In practice for the relay, contact between athletes is inevitable during baton pass work. "We have measures in place to mitigate risk during group practice," said Tsuchie, "but with athletes sharing rooms, showers and toilets in the dormitories it's fundamentally difficult to take full precautions against infection. All the team doctors can tell us right now is to be as careful as we can about the measures we can control. People can't train wearing a mask, so we have to focus on things like maintaining distance when talking."

Team leader Akira Kazama discussed the continued spread of the virus among the Japanese team, saying, "It's a very difficult situation, but we are talking with the athletes about what to do to overcome it." Team doctor Hirofumi Kamata described the situation as a "crisis," and said the following additional steps are being taken:
  • The JAAF has asked World Athletics to move Japanese team members into private rooms in the Athletes' Village dormitories. Currently 2 to 3 team members share a room.
  • An emergency meeting was held with team members to reiterate the critical importance of thorough disinfection and mask usage.
  • Additional steps for individual team members to manage their physical condition.
Along with six coaches and three JAAF team officials, the athletes who have tested positive so far are:
  • Yuki Koike - 200 m, 4x100 m relay
  • Shunsuke Izumiya - 110 m hurdles
  • Takayuki Kishimoto - 400 m hurdles
  • Kengo Suzuki - marathon
  • Mao Ichiyama - marathon
  • Hitomi Niiya - marathon
source articles:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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