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© Thomson Reuters 2021.Olympic surfing venue refuses to cooperate with athlete testing
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© Thomson Reuters 2021.
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Shannon Almadrones
They are asking for anything special except to be close to their venue. Surfing contests rely on conditions of the waves. The Olympics should have testing by the venue. Not all events are in Tokyo.
Desert Tortoise
Maybe not. The Olympic Committee could make the necessary arrangements.
Zoroto, their sport is surfing. Competitive surfing is accomplished at a beach. Why house these athletes two hours from where they are going to practice? That's four hours a day wasted commuting instead of practicing. Their request is reasonable.
virusrex
If the Tokyo government can use the excuse of lack of resources to do the daily tests they promised from months ago then a town can do the same to refuse in this case. It is much more believable that there is a lack of resources to accommodate safely testing and treating for an olympic team in a town in Chiba than Tokyo not testing as recommended by the world experts.
garypen
They should probably just cancel the Olympics.
Has anybody suggested that?
Pukey2
I and a few several tens of millions in Japan did hint at that.
Richard Gallagher
Huh. Brazilian surfers requesting a privilege not granted to any other team - an incredibly arrogant sense of entitlement. Ignoring the agreed upon rules governing competition in the Olympic games. With absolutely no respect for the citizenry of Ichinomiya, a small rural town. Very rude guests.
Brazil has the highest rate of infection from SARSCoV-2. The crackpot president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro continues to oppose any lockdown measures to curb the outbreak. Contrary to any notion of reality: he criticized quarantine measures and suggested without evidence that they were linked to obesity and depression.
Brazilian surfing team: Please remain in Brazil. Good luck next time.
Richard Gallagher
For perspective: On April 7th, Brazil has recorded more than 4,000 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time, as a more contagious variant fuels a surge in cases. 66,570 people died with Covid-19 in March, more than double the previous monthly record.
"Brazil now... is a threat to the entire effort of the international community to control the pandemic," Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who has been closely tracking cases in the country, told the BBC.
"If Brazil is not under control, then the planet is not going to be safe, because we are brewing new variants every week... and they are going to cross borders," he said.
Hospitals are overcrowded, with people dying as they wait for treatment in some cities, and the health system is on the brink of collapse in many areas.
The country's total death toll is now almost 337,000, second only to the US. The U.S. has a population of 330 million. Brazil 210 million.
Richard Gallagher
The Brazilian surfing team is from Brazil. Even allowing the Brazilian Olympic Team, into Japan is less than wise. Let alone letting the surfing team locate to a small town on the coast. Take a gander, the greatest calamity in Brazil's history, Brazil is currently a threat internationally due to its beyond incompetent response to Covid-19, at the behest of its president:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56657818
kohakuebisu
During the Nagano Olympics, lots of competitors stayed in Hakuba, Nozawa Onsen, and Shiga Kogen, the resorts hosting the actual events, and not in the Olympic Village in Nagano City. This was mostly to simplify logistics and avoid traffic jams.
There wasn't a pandemic on at the time of course, so that's a big difference. I just wanted to say that the idea of not staying at the village is not without precedent, especially for distant events.
The best thing is to just cancel.
Jim
Tokyo Olympic’s already a farce!
Laguna
No idea why surfing is an Olympic sport. But as a surfer myself, I know our stubborn nature. Sadly, there are no good waves in Japan.
John Noun
Is Japan a wealthy nation?
Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
T Laguna: You have to watch the cams early in the morning. Sometimes there are fantastic waves here. We catch them.
Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
If the Brazilian team camped out at Sug's place, they would actually be pretty close to the surfing venue. But actually, waves and weather so unpredictable. Why have surfing as an event, and yes, both of us are avid surfers.