(Reuters) – United States bobsleigh competitor Josh Williamson has tested positive for COVID-19 but still hopes to participate in next month’s Beijing Olympics, he said on social media Wednesday.
The 25-year-old first-time Olympian tested positive Sunday, forcing him to miss his flight with Team USA scheduled for Thursday, with the Games set to open next week.
“I have felt pretty helpless throughout this process, but I’ve also found myself laughing a bit at the situation I’m in,” he wrote on his Instagram account. “Isn’t it ironic that after 4 years of hard work, all there is to do is sit, rest, recover and have faith?”
The brakeman, who was one of a dozen named to the U.S. Olympic bobsleigh team, said he would compete, if possible.
“There are later flights running to Beijing throughout the Olympics in anticipation of things like this, I just need consistent negatives to be on one,” said Williamson.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said she could not comment on whether any other members of the team were identified as close contacts, citing U.S. privacy regulations, and said Williamson’s positive result would not impact the team.
Earlier this week organisers for the Games slightly relaxed their strict COVID-19 restrictions for participants, a move that could mean fewer Olympians are impeded by positive tests.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
