Covid ruining the olympics?

[Guest]

They're taking so many people out of competition due to testing positive for Covid-19 that the results are starting to look silly. Aren't they requiring all of the athletes to be fully vaccinated? If so, I don't see any reason to do any testing. They're just pulling asymptomatic, non-contagious carriers out of the competition, which makes no sense, and devalues the games. I guess I'll still watch hunky gymnasts, swimmers, and divers.

[BSR]

16 hours ago, Unicorn said:

They're taking so many people out of competition due to testing positive for Covid-19 that the results are starting to look silly. Aren't they requiring all of the athletes to be fully vaccinated? If so, I don't see any reason to do any testing. They're just pulling asymptomatic, non-contagious carriers out of the competition, which makes no sense, and devalues the games. I guess I'll still watch hunky gymnasts, swimmers, and divers.

Not 100% sure, but I don't think they require athletes to be fully vaccinated.  I know that the men's & women's tennis tours do not require players to be vaccinated.  While #1 Novak Djokovic won't say if he's been vaccinated or not, he has been outspoken in his opposition to mandating vaccination for tennis professionals.

Edited to add:  No, the IOC does not require athletes to be vaccinated.  According to the IOC handbook, "[athletes] will not be required to have received a vaccine in order to participate."

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, BSR said:

Not 100% sure, but I don't think they require athletes to be fully vaccinated.  I know that the men's & women's tennis tours do not require players to be vaccinated.  While #1 Novak Djokovic won't say if he's been vaccinated or not, he has been outspoken in his opposition to mandating vaccination for tennis professionals.

Edited to add:  No, the IOC does not require athletes to be vaccinated.  According to the IOC handbook, "[athletes] will not be required to have received a vaccine in order to participate."

Yikes! That's crazy! Thanks for the info. No wonder. Are they out of their minds? What a disaster waiting to happen! 😱

 

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

Perhaps the lack of vaccine availability globally makes it difficult to mandate all athletes are vaccinated?

[Guest]

On 7/27/2021 at 6:32 PM, sam.fitzpatrick said:

Perhaps the lack of vaccine availability globally makes it difficult to mandate all athletes are vaccinated?

Really, now. Each dose is $30 at most. There are certainly enough to go around to mandate it for all of the athletes. With all of the money that goes into the Olympics... Japan has taken a huge, penny-wise and pound-foolish decision not to ensure the athletes are all vaccinated. 

[BSR]

7 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

Really, now. Each dose is $30 at most. There are certainly enough to go around to mandate it for all of the athletes. With all of the money that goes into the Olympics... Japan has taken a huge, penny-wise and pound-foolish decision not to ensure the athletes are all vaccinated. 

I think the issue is availability, not cost.  My cousins in the Philippines were itching to get vaccinated yet received their 2nd shot just a few days ago.  Are you sure the vaccine was available in all countries in time for athletes to have gotten their 2nd shot at least 2 weeks before traveling to Japan?

A few athletes have had to drop out because of positive Covid tests, some before traveling to Japan, some in the middle of competition.  I hate to think of the disappointment of training so hard & sacrificing so much, just to get eliminated by a Covid test.

Edited July 29, 2021 by BSR
Clarity

[Guest]

10 hours ago, BSR said:

I think the issue is availability, not cost.  My cousins in the Philippines were itching to get vaccinated yet received their 2nd shot just a few days ago.  Are you sure the vaccine was available in all countries in time for athletes to have gotten their 2nd shot at least 2 weeks before traveling to Japan?

A few athletes have had to drop out because of positive Covid tests, some before traveling to Japan, some in the middle of competition.  I hate to think of the disappointment of training so hard & sacrificing so much, just to get eliminated by a Covid test.

The number of athletes is small enough that Japan could have shipped to vaccines to the respective countries if needed. Or the countries could have special-ordered the vaccine. It's not rocket science. I believe Japan was very foolish to allow so many unvaccinated into the country. Quite nutty, in fact.