Olympic Surfing Venue Refuses To Cooperate With Athlete Testing

The surf venue for the Tokyo Olympics has refused to set up any COVID-19 testing facilities for athletes. With only 3 months until the games, people are starting to question whether or not hosting the games is a viable option.

According to Reuters:

The town of Ichinomiya, about 96 km (59.7 miles) east of Tokyo, was requested to set up a testing facility by the Brazilian national team but refused, citing a lack of medical facilities, the national broadcaster said.

Tokyo 2020 organizers on Wednesday issued the second edition of “playbooks” that lay out infection prevention standards for the Summer Games. The rules require daily testing of athletes and restrict their use of public transportation, complicating logistics in more remote venues.

According to multiple sources, Japan has struggled to get access to vaccinations. CBS reported, “Only about 1% of the Japanese population has been inoculated against COVID-19 so far, and under current plans, most will still be unprotected when the Games begin in July.”

The scene for Olympic surfing doesn’t look great at the moment, but hopefully, it will improve over the next few months.