Greece has withdrawn from the artistic swimming competitions at the Tokyo Olympics after four of their athletes tested positive for COVID-19.
The athletes who tested positive were asymptomatic, Greek officials say, but one positive case quickly led to three more.
“The team from the very first day it entered the village has not come into contact with any other member of the Greek Olympic team for obvious reasons,” the Greek Olympic Committee (HOC) said.
”After this development, there will be no representation of Greece in the teams of synchronised swimming.”
The diagnoses ruled the team of nine out of the Games and are now quarantining in a seperate hotel, Greek officials said on Tuesday.
The HOC says the synchronised swimming team was not in direct contact with other athletes and staff since their arrival in the Olympic Village.
It’s dashed the dreams of the team who were just days away from entering the group and duet artistic swimming events.
Greece’s Evangelia Platanioti, a member of the duet team, saw her Olympic prospects slipping when she tested positive in late July.
Her replacement was already selected before she tested negative and was reinstated for the competition.
Tokyo Olympic organisers on Tuesday reported 18 new Games-related COVID-19 cases, bringing the total since July 1 to 294.
