Member of Greek Olympic Artistic Swimming Team Has Coronavirus

A member of the Greek artistic swimming team at the Tokyo Olympics tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday.

The finals of the team artistic swimming event will take place on Friday, August 6. The Greek team will likely participate, as there is an alternate swimmer to take the place of the athlete who has the virus.

The duet event will take place on Tuesday, August 3.

This is a blow for the team, which has already faced a roller coaster of highs and lows before its arrival in Tokyo.

Greek artistic swimmer Evangelia Platanioti, who was also set to perform in the duet event for the sport with teammate Evelina Papazoglou, tested positive for the virus last week, and many believed the diagnosis marked the end of her Olympic dreams for Tokyo.

The young athlete tested positive for the virus after experiencing symptoms at home in Athens, before leaving for the Olympics in Tokyo, on July 27.

All of her other team members tested negative for the virus.

Coronavirus threatened Olympic dreams for Greek artistic swimming team

At the time, the team event was to go on without Platanioti, but the duet event was going to be cancelled. There was no alternate swimmer for the duet, but there was one for the team event.

Just two days after Platanioti was barred from traveling to Tokyo, her team, which had already arrived at the Japanese capital, was placed under quarantine.

The Greek artistic swimming team was quarantined in a hotel after traveling with an assistant who tested positive for COVID-19.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee announced that the assistant had tested positive after arriving at the airport in Tokyo and was placed under quarantine in a separate hotel from the artistic swimming team.

Platanioti arrives in Tokyo, teammate tests positive for coronavirus

The tides turned for the Greek artistic swimming team, however, when Platanioti was able to join the team in Tokyo.

Platanioti arrived in Tokyo on Sunday after testing negative for the coronavirus, and was cleared to compete.

The glow of the good news did not last long for the Greek artistic swimming team, however.

While in quarantine, one of the other members of the team tested positive for Covid-19, and was required to remain in the hotel. All other members of the team tested negative, and were able to move into the Olympic Village under strict supervision.

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.