Lesotho\u2019s lone female marathoner for the Tokyo Olympic Games, \u2019Neheng Khatala, and an athletes\u2019 attach\u00e9, Fetang Selialia, are terrified by the prevailing Covid-19 situation in Tokyo. A number of athletes are reported to have tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic since their arrival at the Olympic Games Village in Tokyo for the global multi-sport competition.<\/p>\n
Khatala and her husband Khoarahlane Seutloali, who is also Lesotho\u2019s lone male marathoner for the Tokyo Olympic Games, will leave for Tokyo next Tuesday, while Selialia will leave the country on Thursday next week. According to the international media, by Tuesday this week, Tokyo reported 1 387 new Covid-19 cases and the number of cases linked to the games was by then over 70, according to organisers.<\/p>\n
Among athletes who are reported to have tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic since arriving in Tokyo are the US competitors such as beach volleyball player, Taylor Crabb, who tested positive on Wednesday this week and a 17-year-old tennis star, Coco Gauff, who tested positive last Sunday. Two South African Under-23 national team players, Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi also tested positive. Monyane and Mahlatsi were the first athletes inside the Olympic Village to test positive and they have both been moved to a separate isolation facility on site in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
The CEO of the Tokyo Olympics organising committee, Toshiro Muto, said in a press conference on Tuesday that he did not rule out a last-minute cancellation of the Games if Covid-19 cases continued to rise. But both Khatala and Selialia said the Olympics should not be cancelled or postponed, despite that they are terrified with what is happening in Tokyo. \u201cThe situation in Tokyo already makes us feel uncomfortable,\u201d said Khatala in an interview with Public Eye on Wednesday this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think the fact that we are going to leave very late for the Olympics is another thing that is going to save us from the virus.\u201d Khatala said their safety would be very crucial since they depend entirely on running. \u201cWe are not going to stay at the Olympic Games village. We are just going to spend one day at the village and leave to Sapporo on the following day for the marathon competition and then after the race we would come back home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the good thing about us and we need the grace of God not to test positive for Covid-19 before and until the race.\u201d Khatala further said the cancellation of the Olympics would not at all be helpful at this juncture. \u201cIt is true Covid-19 pandemic is dangerous but now the reality is that we are going live with it, and so I don\u2019t think it would be a good decision to cancel the Olympic at this time.<\/p>\n
Again, some of us depend entirely on sports and if they are cancelled time and again it means we are going to suffer a lot as athletes,\u201d said Khatala. Selialia, who is also the President of the Federation of Lesotho Rugby (FLR) and a member of the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC), shared the same sentiments with Khatala. \u201cIndeed the situation in Tokyo makes me uncomfortable and very much worried about what is going to happen,\u201d said Selialia in a separate interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is too bad so to say, after countries have invested a lot in athletes.\u201d Selialia further said: \u201cBut I don\u2019t think it would be fair to cancel the games at this time. I would rather say an athlete who tested positive be replaced by their second best athletes from their respective countries.\u201d Lesotho chef de mission at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Letsatsi Ntsibolane, however, said there\u2019s no way that the Games could be cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember that on July 23 it\u2019s the opening ceremony and preparations are in full swing,\u201d said Ntsibolane. \u201cSo there\u2019s no way the Games could be postponed, not at all.\u201d The Tokyo Olympic Games had initially been scheduled to take place last year but were postponed to this year due to the same Covid-19 pandemic. Both Khatala and Seutloali will be making their first appearance at the Olympics, with Lesotho yet to win a medal from the Olympic Games since 1972.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lesotho\u2019s lone female marathoner for the Tokyo Olympic Games, \u2019Neheng Khatala, and an athletes\u2019 attach\u00e9, Fetang Selialia, are terrified by the prevailing Covid-19 situation in Tokyo. A number of athletes are reported to have tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic since their arrival at the Olympic Games Village in Tokyo for the global multi-sport competition. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":2340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n