Team USA members trying to get to events overseas are encountering more regulations and longer wait timesGETTY IMAGES
The U.S. leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases and confirmed deaths from the disease, which is creating a "thorny hospitality dilemma" for Japan ahead of next summer's Tokyo Games, according to Bachman & Radnofsky of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The group of athletes, coaches and other personnel that will make up Team USA "are coming from a particularly frightening nation" regarding the virus, but there is "seemingly little way to hold an Olympics without hosting the Americans." Many countries are starting to "relax entry restrictions for noncitizens," but the U.S. "is not on anyone’s eager-to-admit list." Athletes can "qualify for an exemption, but already, Team USA members trying to get to events overseas are encountering more regulations and longer wait times." USOPC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jonathan Finnoff is "offering to take additional measures in order to ensure that Americans are admissible -- and safe" -- for the Games. Finnoff noted one option for teams is "quarantining athletes for 14 days before they travel, to ensure that they are free from the virus." Teams also "could take steps to secure negative Covid tests for athletes before they board a plane, and again upon their arrival." Finnoff added that "having athletes arrive closer to the time of their competition, or leaving right after it, rather than staying in the Olympic Village for the duration of the Games" is a possibility (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/23).
NEW REQUIREMENTS: REUTERS' Saito, Takenaka & Leussink cites report Tokyo Games officials "will require coronavirus tests of foreign athletes upon their arrival in Japan, but may not mandate a two-week quarantine period." Japanese athletes and other participants living in Japan would "face similar requirements when travelling to training camps and competition venues under the planned measures." Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga today talked to IOC President Thomas Bach "by phone and had a discussion about holding a successful Games." Suga's office said that he "promised to cooperate closely on holding a safe event for athletes and spectators" (REUTERS, 9/23). Bach in their "first phone call since Suga took office" last week "expressed his desire to visit Japan in late October to meet with Suga in person" (KYODO NEWS, 9/23).
