Ahead of the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, COVID-19 has had its impact on the Australian women’s water polo team. Five players have tested positive as of Wednesday, and adequate measures have been taken to contain the virus.
The Australia team’s Chief de Commission in Paris, Anna Meares, said in a statement that the water polo team has only been affected and they will be allowed to practice when they feel well enough to train. She said, “We treat COVID no differently than any other respiratory illness, but we want to ensure that we have our protocols working as well, and dealing with these illnesses and minimizing them is part and parcel of every Olympic Games.”
There have been protocols in place, like wearing masks and isolating team members when they are not training. Anna also added that the respiratory illness and testing protocol have been placed for the teams that are there.
France’s health minister, Frederic Valletoux, as quoted by USA Today through a Franceinfo broadcast, remarked, “Of course, COVID is present. We’ve observed a slight increase. However, we are nowhere near the levels seen in 2020, 2021, or 2022.”
Earlier, the Tokyo Summer Olympics 2021 and the Bejieng Olympics 2022 were played in a bubble with rigorous protocols. This Olympics has no specific guidelines in place to tackle the problems raised through COVID.
Two weeks ago, COVID also had an effect on the Tour de France as five cyclists tested positive, including two-time Olympic medalist Michael Morkov. It was expected to be the 39-year-old Danish player’s last season, and he had to drop out of the race.
The Paris Olympics are scheduled to start on July 26 with the opening ceremony on July 25. India will look to surpass their haul of seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Their campaign kicks off with archers Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur, Pravin Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai, and Dhiraj Bommadevara in action in the women’s and men’s individual ranking rounds.