Australia’s curlers will fly home to Australia on Sunday, cutting short their maiden Winter Olympics campaign after Tahli Gill tested positive to Covid-19.
Olympic debutants Gill and Dean Hewitt were due to play their final two matches in Beijing on Sunday but have opted to forfeit and fly out of China rather than Gill going into an isolation hotel.
The 23-year-old originally contracted Covid-19 in Canada in December.
Australia’s curlers will fly home to Australia on Sunday, cutting short their maiden Winter Olympics campaign after Tahli Gill tested positive to Covid-19
Her CT levels have waivered between positive and negative during her time in Beijing and she has been managed as a ‘close contact’ which means restricted movements and twice-daily testing.
Team chef de mission Geoff Lipshut said it had been a ‘negotiation’ with the IOC and the local organising committee to keep her in the competition.
The results of Gill’s most recent test meant Olympic officials wouldn’t allow her to play in the final two round-robin ties with Switzerland and Canada.
Olympic debutants Gill and Dean Hewitt were due to play their final two matches on Sunday but have opted to forfeit and fly out of China rather than Gill going into an isolation hotel
‘The Australian Olympic Committee has made the decision to organise for Tahli and Dean and Peter the team manager to return to Australia,’ said Lipshut.
‘Tahli has registered a number of positive Covid tests as well as negative and has been managed through the close contact program over the last couple of days.
‘That’s been something that they’ve had to contend with as well as participating.
The results of Gill’s most recent test meant Olympic officials wouldn’t allow her to play in the final two round-robin ties with Switzerland and Canada
‘She has been free to participate up until this point but with the most recent test there was a chance she would be moved to an isolation hotel and with two games left we’ve asked Tahli and the choice is to faciltate her return home.’
Gill has been showing no symptoms and Lipshut said medical advice was that it was at the end of the infection cycle, which meant she was free to board a flight later Sunday and would be permitted through customs in Australia.
The Australians, who are the first to ever qualify to compete in the Olympic curling competition, were winless through seven rounds, although four four of those defeats were by a single point.
