An American beach volleyball player will miss the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, a report said Wednesday.
Taylor Crabb, 29, received the diagnosis shortly after landing in Japan to compete at the Summer Games, NBC News reported.
USA Volleyball on Wednesday confirmed that one of the players on the men’s volleyball team had tested positive, but didn’t identify the athlete, citing privacy concerns.
His brother, fellow beach volleyball pro Trevor Crabb, called the situation “terrible,” NBC Los Angeles reported.
Trevor Crabb said his brother was “fine and healthy and should be allowed to play, in my personal opinion.”
The diagnosis was the first at the Tokyo Games for an athlete who was set to compete on Team USA.
Kara Eaker, an alternate for the US gymnastics team, tested positive on Monday while training in Narita, about 35 miles from Tokyo, according to US Olympic officials.
The Tokyo Games are set to get underway Friday despite questions over their safety, with tens of thousands of foreigners arriving.
World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday backed the competition going forward, saying the games were needed “as a celebration of hope.”
“The Olympics have the power to bring the world together, to inspire, to show what’s possible,” he said to International Olympic Committee members.
“May the rays of hope from this land illuminate a new dawn for a healthy, safer and fairer world. It is my sincere hope the Tokyo Games succeed.”
With Post wires