According to NBC News, Simone Biles and the rest of the U.S. gymnastics team will not be staying at the Tokyo Olympic Village for the Games that officially kick off this Friday.
One day before a member of the team tested positive for COVID-19, Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles’ coach, Cecile Landi, confirmed that her athletes are going to be staying at a nearby hotel instead.
“It was also a decision that we all made together,” Landi wrote Sunday on Twitter.
“We know it isn’t ideal during a pandemic. We feel like we can control the athletes and our safety better in a hotel setting!” she added.
It was also a decision that we all made together, we know it isn’t ideal for the Olympic experience but nothing is ideal during a pandemic ?we feel like we can control the athletes and our safety better in a hotel setting!
— Cecile Landi (@CLcecile) July 19, 2021
The USA Gymnastics team said that regardless of recent events, the squad had always planned to stay at a hotel instead of the reserved section for the athletes competing in the Games.
Landi’s tweet came soon before Kara Eaker tested positive at the training camp in Narita, near Tokyo.
Both Eaker Ann alternate, Leanne Wong, are under quarantine.
“Tokyo 2020 is not in a position to comment on individual teams’ performance decisions,” the organizing committee said to the outlet.
On Sunday, two athletes staying in the village tested positive for COVID-19, despite the committee’s great effort to eradicate the chances of contagion.
Two days later, beach volleyball trainer Simon Nausch and player Ondrej Perusio stayed in the village, tested positive and isolated themselves at an unknown location, the Czech team said in a statement.
Related Story: Simone Biles Returns to Gymnastics to Be a Voice for Abuse Survivors
The Olympic Games are happening amidst a global pandemic and in the face of huge opposition by half the country which is afraid that migration of foreigners will worsen the cases.
