A COVID-19 outbreak has ruled Greece's artistic swimming team out of the Olympics ahead of Friday's team event, marking the first time in Tokyo that an entire team has withdrawn mid-competition due to the coronavirus.
The team has been moved out of the Olympic Village and is in quarantine after five of the 12 members tested positive for COVID-19. The other seven are considered close contacts and are also unable to compete.
“We judged the monitoring had to be strengthened, and it was decided to do it outside the village,” Tokyo 2020 spokesman Takaya Masa told USA Today.
“They had made a huge effort and actually came to Japan under difficult circumstances. I imagine the expectations from the Greek people for these athletes were quite high so it’s painful to think of them.”
Greece's Evangelia Papazoglou and Evangelia Platanioti finished 10th in Monday's free routine prelims but withdrew from Tuesday's technical prelim in the duet.
There were 29 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday among Olympic personnel, including four athletes, the most in a single day since organizers began tracking cases on July 1.
