Paris 2024 Olympics: Australian water polo player isolated after testing positive for COVID

An Australian women’s water polo team player has been isolated from the rest of the contingent at the Paris 2024 Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.

Anna Meares, the Australian Olympic Team’s Chef-de-Mission, confirmed on Tuesday that the unnamed athlete is constantly being monitored and tested at the Olympic Village.

However, the team will continue to train as planned.

"Currently we have had one athlete from the (water polo) team isolating with COVID which was detected last night. So as a precaution, they're not joining us this morning," Meares said during a press conference on Tuesday.

"I need to emphasise that we are treating COVID no differently to other bugs like the flu. This is not Tokyo. The athlete is not particularly unwell and they are still training but sleeping in a single room," she added.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and were mostly held without spectators in the stadiums.

Meares mentioned that the rest of the team members will be wearing masks and resorting to social distancing protocols to avoid further contamination.

“It was late last night when she was discovered with symptoms and the good thing is that having our own testing equipment means that we can get that information really quickly and intervene both in diagnosis and treatment,” Meares noted. “In terms of competitions, we will wait until she gets the all-clear and we get the information from our chief medical officer Carolyn Broderick.”

France’s Health Minister Frederic Valletoux is confident that there was little risk of a major COVID cluster at the upcoming Summer Games.

A 13-member Australian women’s water polo team for the Paris 2024 Olympics was announced in May.

Sienna Green, 19, is the youngest player in the squad while Keesja Gofers is set to become the third Australian Stinger to compete in the Olympics as a mother. Zoe Arancini is the captain of the Stingers.