Tokyo Olympics: Testing positive for Covid-19 in boxing final will land opponent gold
Jul 11, 2021
Lausanne [Switzerland], July 11 : If any participant tests positive for Covid-19 in the finals of the boxing event in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, then the opponent will receive a gold medal, and the Covid-19 participant will be facilitated with the silver medal.
This specification has been made clear in the Tokyo Olympics' Sport-Specific Regulations (SSR). The Regulations have been jointly formed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Federations (IFs).
"In Boxing, the athlete that cannot compete will not be disqualified and will be marked as DNS in case they cannot start the event and will be treated as Walk-Over once the competition has started," as per the regulations.
"If an athlete is no longer able to compete the opponent will receive a bye and progress to the next round. If an athlete cannot compete in the final due to COVID-19 the bout will not go ahead and the athlete who can no longer compete will receive the silver medal and the opponent will be awarded the gold medal to protect the safety of the athletes," it added.
Regulations regarding wrestling state: "In Wrestling, if an athlete is not able to compete due to Covid-19 the athlete will not be disqualified and will be marked as DNS. The opponent receives a bye into the next round."
"In case the athlete has reached the final and is no longer able to compete due to COVID-19 the athlete eliminated in the respective semi-final will fill the vacant place and compete in the final," it added.
The regulations also clarify about someone in the shooting event testing positive for Covid-19.
"In shooting, if an athlete/team is not able to compete due to COVID-19, they will not be disqualified and will be marked as DNS. There will be no change to the competition format or groupings."
"The events take place over one day with the exception of the shotgun events, however, all athletes compete on both days and therefore the results of the daily COVID-19 test will determine if an athlete can start otherwise the event will go ahead with one athlete less. For the mixed team event, in case an athlete can no longer take part in the event, but the NOC has another athlete on-site, the NOC can replace an athlete team member," the regulations added.
The Tokyo Olympics will go on from July 23-August 8. The mega event was slated to go ahead last year, but it had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
