WEATHER ALERT

AP sources: Refugee Team head Tegla Loroupe tests positive

Advertisement

Advertise with us

TOKYO - Former distance runner Tegla Loroupe, the chief of mission for the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team, has tested positive for COVID-19, two people with knowledge of her condition have told The Associated Press.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$1 per week for 24 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Monthly Digital Subscription

$4.75/week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

No thanks

*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2021 (1539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TOKYO – Former distance runner Tegla Loroupe, the chief of mission for the IOC’s Refugee Olympic Team, has tested positive for COVID-19, two people with knowledge of her condition have told The Associated Press.

Loroupe tested positive before the team was to depart its Doha, Qatar, training base for Tokyo. The team has delayed its arrival in Tokyo where the Olympics open on Friday because of Loroupe’s positive test. Team members are expected to start departing in the next few days, but Loroupe is expected to stay behind, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal medical information.

The International Olympic Committee issued a statement several days ago and said only that an unnamed “official” returned a positive test in the Refugee Team delegation. It said the 26 athletes in Doha and other officials had tested negative.

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 file photo Prince Albert II of Monaco, left, presents Kenyan distance runner Tegla Loroupe with the 2016 President Award at the 2016 World Athletics Gala Awards in Monaco. Laroupe, currently the chief of mission for the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team, has tested positive for COVID-19, two people with knowledge of her condition have told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)
FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 file photo Prince Albert II of Monaco, left, presents Kenyan distance runner Tegla Loroupe with the 2016 President Award at the 2016 World Athletics Gala Awards in Monaco. Laroupe, currently the chief of mission for the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team, has tested positive for COVID-19, two people with knowledge of her condition have told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Loroupe’s positive test is one in a long line of athletes, team officials, and others who have tested positive for COVID-19, in and around the Tokyo Olympics that are to open on Friday after being delayed a year by the pandemic. Tokyo organizers confirmed on Sunday that two athletes staying in the Olympic Village had tested positive. They are the first athletes in the village to be reported positive.

Anne-Sophie Thilo, a press spokesperson for the team, declined to name the person who tested positive, but said most of the team will be in Tokyo in the next few days.

“If everything goes right, the whole team of athletes and coaches will be in Tokyo on the 20th (Tuesday),” Thilo told the AP.

The Refugee Olympic Team has been heavily promoted by the IOC, a humanitarian gesture that was introduced five years ago at the Rio Olympics in the form of a 10-member team. The team for Tokyo is to be twice as large and has been the focus of promotion, partially to counteract opposition in Japan to the Olympics and generate some goodwill.

The IOC would not confirm it was Loroupe that tested positive.

“You will appreciate that we are not in a position to provide names without the approval of the individuals concerned,” the IOC said in a statement to the AP. “However, we can confirm that the team members are able to train in Qatar, and we are looking at the next steps. We will provide information once decisions have been taken.”

In a statement earlier in the week, the IOC said the official who tested positive was isolated by Qatari public authorities and is considered asymptomatic.

The Qatari government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Qatar, a tiny, energy-rich country on the Arabian Peninsula of 2.8 million people that will host the 2022 World Cup, has reported over 223,000 cases of the coronavirus and nearly 600 deaths.

Loroupe is a two-time winner of the New York City marathon, and in the late 90s she was a force from 10,000 metres through the marathon distance.

___

Associated Press Writers Jon Gambrell and Bassam Hatoum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Report Error Submit a Tip

Olympics

LOAD MORE