Two-defending Olympic men's overall gymnastics champion Kohei Uchimura, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus this past week, has since been returned three different negative test results, the International Gymnastics Federation said Saturday.
The 31-year-old Uchimura had been working out with Japan's team at Tokyo's National Training Center ahead of a four-nation meet to start on Nov. 8 in Tokyo. He tested positive on Thursday, but after tests at three different hospitals, the tournament's medical staff determined the original result to be a false positive.
As a result, a report filed to the local health office has been withdrawn and FIG President Morinari Watanabe said the November meet will go ahead as planned.
The competition between Japan, China, Russia and the United States is the first major international competition to be hosted in Japan since March, when the decision was made to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and hold them next summer.
On Friday, the gymnastics training areas were closed and all eight gymnasts as well as the team staff were tested. Those results also came back negative, and the facility will be available for training from Sunday.
One member of the Russian team has been replaced, with Russia's Tass news agency reporting it was due to injury rather than due to a coronavirus infection.
