Coronavirus: Senior Japanese Olympic official tests positive amid concerns over Tokyo 2020

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

As your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.

Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn't have the resources to challenge those in power.

Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November election

Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A member of Japan’s Olympic Committee has tested positive for coronavirus, adding to growing pressure to postpone or cancel Tokyo 2020

Kozo Tashima, 62, is also the head of Japan’s football association and said he has tested positive for coronavirus.

“Today, my test result showed positive for the new coronavirus," Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association.

The development adds further scrutiny on whether it is appropriate for the Olympic Games to go ahead in the Japanese capital this summer, with officials among the country's government as well as the International Olympic Committee adament that plans are progressing as scheduled.

“Today, my test result showed positive for the new coronavirus," Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association.

He added that he was on a planned business trip since 28 February, first heading to Belfast to attend the International Football Association Board’s annual general meeting, before flying on to Amsterdam for the Uefa general meeting two weeks ago, giving a presentation on Japan’s 2023 Women’s World Cup bid.

From there, Tashima travelled to the United States where Japan’s Women’s team were in action in the SheBelieves Cup, before arriving back home on 8 March.

"In Amsterdam and in Europe in early March, the level of nervousness against the novel coronavirus was not the same as now,” he added. “Everyone was still doing hugs, handshakes and bises (cheek kissing)."

Figures across the football world as varied as Jorge Jesus, Mikel Arteta, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Dusan Vlahovic have tested positive for coronavirus across the past week, as the sport – along with most others around the globe – continues to suffer mass postponements in the wake of the pandemic.

Uefa officials are having several meetings across Tuesday to determine the outcome for the rest of the 2019/20 season and the potential for postponing or cancelling Euro 2020.