Greek Athlete Tests Positive for Coronavirus, Out of Tokyo Olympics

Greek athlete Evangelia Platanioti, who would be representing the country in the artistic swimming event at the Tokyo Olympics, tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday and will not participate in the Games.

All of her other team members tested negative for the virus. While Platanioti has a mild case of the virus and there is little concern about her physical health, the athlete has lost her shot at a spot in the Olympics for which she has trained for so long alongside her team members.

Although she tested positive for the virus before arriving in Tokyo, Platanioti is hardly the only Olympian to have been infected with Covid-19.

Despite the strict anti-virus measures in place at the Olympic Village in Tokyo, over 150 people have now tested positive for the coronavirus there since the Games began.

A total of 155 people, including athletes, trainers, staff, media, and volunteers, have been infected with the virus at the international event.

Team event at Tokyo Olympics will go on without Greek athlete with coronavirus

Platanioti was set to participate in both the team event and also a duet with fellow athlete Evelina Papazoglou.

The team event will go on without Platanioti, but the duet event must be cancelled. There was no alternate swimmer for the duet, but there was one for the team event.

The young athlete tested positive for the virus after experiencing symptoms at home in Athens, before leaving for the Olympics in Tokyo.

She would have been part of the second group of athletes from the country heading to Tokyo. After testing positive, she will not be allowed to attend the Games at all.

This is an extremely unfortunate result for an athlete who has been preparing for the Olympics for years.

Many had high hopes for the Greek artistic swimming team after they stunned audiences with a beautiful performance at the qualifying event earlier this summer. Platanioti, the first Greek woman to win two medals in a singular European Aquatics Championship, is an integral member of the team.

Greece’s artistic swimming team at the Tokyo Olympics

The Greek artistic swimming team is composed of nine incredibly talented young women. The athletes on the team are Evangelia Papazoglou, Evangelia Platanioti, Maria Alzigkouzi, Georgia Vasilopoulou, Krystalenia Gialama, Penelope Karamesiou, Adriania Misikevits, Eleni Fragkaki, and Danai Kariori.

Greece’s artistic swimming team qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games after a breathtaking performance to the music of “CATS” in Barcelona, Spain in mid-June.

After a thrilling competition, which was a nail-biter till the very last competitor, Italy, Spain, and Greece earned their ticket to this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The three nations join previously qualified Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Japan, Russia and Ukraine to complete the starting lists for the Team events in Tokyo.

Greece, in third place after the Technical Team event, used their Free routine to pay homage to Greek Mythology, portraying the Wings of Icarus.

Greece received 88.6000 points for their performance and ranked second overall with 175.9990 points.