Thursday July 22, 2021
Corona – or other problems?
Entire Guinea team cancels Tokyo spontaneously
At very short notice, Guinea decided not to send its entire Olympic team to Tokyo. Officially, it’s about the danger posed by the coronavirus and the health of the athletes. In the background, excessively high costs and unpaid premiums play a role.
Due to the corona pandemic, Guinea is temporarily not participating in the Olympic Games. Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow announced. Guinea originally wanted to start with five athletes in Tokyo.
“Due to the resurgence of COVID-19 variants, the government, which is striving to maintain the health of athletes, has decided with regret to cancel Guinea’s participation in the Tokyo Games,” the sports minister wrote in one, according to the French news agency AFP Letter to the President of the Olympic Committee of Guinea.
Unpaid premiums?
However, it is unclear whether this is the real reason for the withdrawal. A source close to the government told AFP about financial problems in the poor West African country. “The ministry cannot pay the costs,” it said. National media also speculated about unpaid premiums.
Guinea, which has never won a medal at eleven Olympic Games, should be represented in Tokyo by Fatoumata Yarie Camara (wrestling), Mamadou Samba Bah (judo), Fatoumata Lamarana Toure and Mamadou Tahirou Bah (swimming) and Aissata Deen Conte (athletics) be. Before Guinea, North Korea announced in April that it would not take part in the Olympic Games in order to protect its athletes from risks related to the corona pandemic.
At the Games in Rio 2016, Guinea sent a team of five athletes to the start, who competed in three sports. It is the first time since Montreal in 1976 that the country has not participated in the Games. In April, North Korea announced that it would not take part in Tokyo 2020 – also citing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has dominated the preparation for the Games, the number of positive cases related to the Olympic Games has risen to 82 since July 1.
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