A CHILEAN taekwondo competitor has become the first athlete to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for Covid-19, officials said.

Fernanda Aguirre had travelled to Japan from Uzbekistan, where she had been preparing for the Games, but tested positive on arrival.

“(She) is asymptomatic and in good health, but unfortunately will not be able to compete because the Japanese authorities impose a 10-day quarantine,” a Chilean Olympic committee statement said yesterday.

Aguirre has been moved to an isolation facility, as has her coach.

The 21-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games, said on social media she was “destroyed and very sad”.

There have been 79 Games-related coronavirus cases so far at the Olympics. – AFP, July 21, 2021.