Two Georgian judokas outside the Olympics after leaving the village

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Two Georgian Georgian medalists have been stripped of their accreditation after violating COVID-19 protocols by leaving the Olympic Village, according to AFP.

Faza Margilashvili and Lasha Shavdatuashvili won the silver earlier this week, Margilashvili in the 66kg class last Sunday and Shavdatuashvili in the 73kg class on Monday. They reportedly decided to leave the village to meet their “good acquaintance” in Tokyo:

“When they came out of the village, no one stopped them at the exit. So they thought they could go out,” the official told AFP.

“They just wanted to get a little fresh air, and relax after a tough day of competition, after a tough lockdown.”

According to Kyodo News, the two athletes were seen on Tuesday night in Georgian team uniforms posing for photos near Tokyo Tower with several other people.

As the events of both of them completed several days ago, both judos had already left Japan to return home, so it was unclear if they would face any actual consequences. A Tokyo Games spokesperson said the pair can no longer access the Tokyo 2020 facilities, but that was already largely true due to COVID rules requiring athletes to leave after at least two days of competition.

This is the first time any athlete has been penalized for breaching the Games’ strict COVID-19 protocols, which effectively enforce “bubble” rules by preventing athletes from leaving their Olympic Village accommodations except for training or competition.

Despite these measures, the Olympic Village is still seeing positive tests for COVID-19, perhaps an inevitable when more than 10,000 athletes are tested daily.

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