17-year-old tennis star Coco Gauff announced via Twitter Sunday that she will not make her first appearance in the Olympics later this month after testing positive for Covid-19.
“I am so disappointed to share the news that I have tested positive for COVID and won’t be able to play in the Olympic Games in Tokyo,” Gauff wrote. “It has always been a dream of mine to represent the USA at the Olympics, and I hope there will be many more chances for me to make this come true in the future.”
Gauff was chosen earlier this month to represent Team USA in the women’s singles division.
“The entire USA Tennis Olympic contingent is heartbroken for Coco,” the U.S. Tennis Association said in a statement, per NBC News. “We wish her the best as she deals with this unfortunate situation and hope to see her back on the courts very soon.”
Tokyo Olympics president Seiko Hashimoto confirmed in a news conference Saturday that someone within Olympic Village had tested positive for COVID-19 but said the person was helping organize the Games, and not an athlete. Less than 24 hours later, ESPN reported that two members of the South African soccer team and a video analyst were already in Olympic Village when they tested positive. Those infected will be moved to the “Tokyo 2020 isolation facility,” while the rest of the team will remain in isolation.
The Refugee Olympic Team, consisting of 26 athletes, 16 coaches, and 10 officials, is set to arrive in Tokyo tonight after being cleared to travel following the news that an official, who had received a single shot of the vaccine, had the virus.
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled to begin on July 23, and will last until Aug. 8.
