Corona Daily 024: Did Not Start (DNS)

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 will finally start tomorrow. It is the first Olympic with no spectators at all. The Olympians present on the ground are not allowed to sing or shout to cheer their teammates, but they may clap instead. Winners are discouraged from excessive celebrations. Sportsmen and staff are urged to use Japan’s COCA exposure notification app.

Nearly 93,000 overseas athletes and officials are kept separate from the local population. Athletes are permitted to leave accommodation to go to the Official games venues. They are prohibited from using public transportation. No sightseeing, bars, restaurants, clubs or mingling with Olympians in other places, please. Athletes breaking the rules may face disqualification and financial penalties.

Everyone staying in the Olympic village will get their temperature checked every time they enter the village. All athletes and others associated with the games are subjected to daily saliva tests.

The International Olympics Committee offered to help with vaccines, but they are not mandatory. Restrictions and protocols don’t take into account the vaccination status.

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More than 22,000 athletes, journalists and game officials have entered Japan since 1 July. So far, 61 people have tested positive, 28 from overseas.

Coco Gauff, 17, an American tennis superstar, and a potential medal winner had to withdraw earlier following a positive test.

Last week, eight athletes have tested positive, three of them members of the South African soccer team. Two dozen South Africans, including the entire soccer team and the supporting staff are under individual quarantine.

The organizers are confident their test-quarantine method is effective. They promise “Covid-safe”, not “covid-free” games.

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What happens to the athletes who test positive?

They are not allowed to compete. They must begin isolation immediately in a secluded hotel where organizers provide them three meals daily. Based on the severity of their symptoms, Japanese health authorities will decide how long they should stay in isolation.

The good news is that no athlete or team testing positive will be designated as “disqualified”. Instead, in the record books, they will receive a “DNS (Did Not Start)”, a designation without any stigma.  

In this Olympics, one will not win until one actually holds the medal in hand. Similarly, one is not out even when one is out. Because, wherever possible, an athlete or team who can’t compete due to positive tests or isolation will be replaced by the next most eligible athlete or team. Meaning if you lost in the swimming heats, but before the next round swimmers who outpaced you tested positive, you will be reinstated.

If in a boxing final, one of the players tests positive, he will be given the silver medal, and the opponent will get the gold. I couldn’t find what happens if both of them test positive at the same time.

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Talking of the timing of the results, currently the Chess World Cup is being held in Sochi, Russia.

The matches begin at 3 pm local time. Last week, Susanto Megaranto, an Indonesian grandmaster started his game against the world no.2 Fabiano Caruana sharp at 3 pm. Chess requires a great level of concentration. Forty-five minutes into the game, the arbiter, looking frightened and confused, stopped the game. He told Megaranto that the result of his test had reached the organizers at 3.30 pm, and it is positive. “Sorry but you are out of the tournament.” Megaranto, in great health, left. His opponent Caruana, who had touched Megaranto’s pawn when capturing it, was sent into quarantine.

Imagine someone like Usain Bolt waiting for the sound of the gun before the 100 m sprint. Instead, someone walks up to him and says his positive test result has arrived.

Japanese are known for their punctuality and precision. I am certain they won’t let such a situation happen.

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Ravi