Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 || The Games Will Award Two Silvers If A Finalist Cannot Play Due To COVID

Athletes who test positive for COVID during the Tokyo Olympics will not be disqualified and will receive the minimum prize that would have won if there moved on.

As the IOC sports director, Kit McConnell, from New Zealand, explained in a press conference, each federation has developed a plan to manage the re-allocation of places and prizes in the event that a participant is withdrawn due to coronavirus.

The objective is to "maintain the integrity of the competition" and the classification systems as similar as possible to the usual. Thus, if a team cannot play a final due to positives in its squad, it will be replaced by another, but that team will receive the silver medal.

"And a team that could not participate in the semifinals would be replaced, if possible, by the team they faced in the quarterfinals," he gave as an example.

According to McConnell, in individual sports, substitutions will be easier in those that take place over many days, such as tennis, than in others that are decided in a single day, such as the different weights of taewondo or judo.

Athletes who cannot start a test will be listed as DNS ('Did Not Start'), not DSQ (disqualified).

We are not burying the rules of the competition, we only add specific rules before the covid

Kit McConnell, IOC Sporting Director

To cover withdrawals, "the highest eligible qualifier" will be used. It may be the case, said the manager, that a test has multiple medalists: those who win the competition and those who could have won it had they participated.

"We are not burying the rules of the competition, we only add specific rules before the covid so that an athlete who has reached a certain point in the competition, such as a final, receives the medal or the minimum diploma that he would have received when participating", explained.

"We don't think it's fair to take that away from them after everything they have gone through to get to that stage of the competition," he added.

Olympians could be expelled from Japan if they violate COVID-19 rules

Foreigners compatirán athletes at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Tokyo Japan could be expelled if they violate regulations to prevent the spread of the COVID, according to rules published Tuesday.

The third and most recent version of the 'playbook' with various COVID-19 measures collects that athletes also face other sanctions if they do not comply with the protocols, including the withdrawal of accreditation and the right to participate in the Games, in addition to a possible fine.

These specific regulations will enter into force on July 1, as confirmed by the organizers on Tuesday. The 'playbooks' for officials and workers, including representatives of sponsors and the media, will be published later.

Japan studies declaring a quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo during the Games

Just over a month before the start of the Games, the Government of Japan is considering declaring a quasi-state of emergency in Tokyo during the Olympic event. This was explained this Monday after collecting the opinions of the country's health experts, who estimate that an event of these characteristics is a potential risk for the evolution of the pandemic.

It is not the first time that Japanese doctors have warned of the danger of the arrival of so many people to the country for the Games. In fact, in April, the head of Japan's government panel of experts on the pandemic, Shigeru Omi, stated that the country's authorities "should discuss" the celebration of the Games, given the rebound in cases that Japan was experiencing at that time.

Despite everything, the Games go on. The vice president of the IOC, John Coates, already made it clear days ago that a declaration of the state of emergency during the Games would not affect its celebration and that it would be a measure to prevent contagion.