Team GB athletes set to shun opening ceremony at Tokyo Olympics over Covid fears

Team GB are set to have as few as 30 athletes at the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday from their 376-athlete strong congregation due to Covid concerns at the games in Tokyo.

Usually, around 200 athletes would attend the traditional curtain-raiser, but according to The Times, a majority of British athletes have taken the decision not to attend.

Over 200 British athletes are already present in the Olympic village, with some opting out of attending due to early competition schedules, many more will be absent due to reasons related to Covid.

This comes after Chilean taekwondo athlete Fernanda Aguirre and Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs became the first athletes to be ruled out of the Games due to positive Covid tests.

An attendance of less than 1,000 is expected at the 68,000 capacity Tokyo Olympic Stadium for the ceremony, consisting entirely of VIPs.

However, the heads of major companies Toyota and Panasonic have made public announcements withdrawing their attendance from the event.

Emperor Naruhito of Japan will be present at the Games, though, but once events are fully underway from Saturday the wider imperial family is not expected to be in attendance.

This is another blow for the Games, coming after the composer for the opening ceremony was forced to resign from his role having made comments publicly admitting to abusing disabled class-mates in the past.

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As for Team GB, their flag bearers for the opening ceremony are still to be announced, and from a dwindling pool of candidates due to those not attending the event.

One male and one female athlete will be given the honour of carrying the Union Jack into the stadium, with diver Tom Daley amongst the main candidates at this his fourth Olympic Games.

Recent Team GB flag bearers include tennis icon Sir Andy Murray and multiple-time cycling gold medal winner Sir Chris Hoy.

It has also been announced that the six British athletes currently isolating will be allowed to compete at the Games.

Team GB chef de mission Mark England announced: “Nobody who is contact traced and has to isolate will be missing from the field of play when the Olympic Games start.

“Today we’ve got almost 800 in country. Not one individual has tested positive, and that’s a great story for us in terms of our medical support on the road to Tokyo and whilst we're in country.

“The six are consigned to their rooms and have to have their meals there. But they can travel." he confirmed prior to the official start of the Games on Friday.

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