TOKYO — What happens in the Olympic village, has mostly stayed in the Olympic village.
But word leaked out Sunday that police broke up an illegal gathering early Saturday where some athletes were drinking and at least one injury was reported.
Toshiro Muto, the games chief executive, then confirmed to reporters that several athletes were caught drinking in a park. Police were investigating and would “take appropriate action,” he said.
Muto did not address whether anybody was injured or give any other details.
However, Tokyo Metropolitan Police told NBC News that officers responded around 2 a.m. local time Saturday (12 p.m. Friday ET) to reports that several non-Japanese athletes were drinking and carousing on the street, defying requests by games officials to stop. One official suffered a sprained leg during the disturbance, they said.
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Athletes are not prohibited from bringing liquor into the Village, but because of Covid-19 restrictions they are prohibited to drinking in public or holding parties in common spaces.
Organizers have barred reporters and others from venturing into the sealed-off section of Japan’s capital city where most of the 11,000 competitors have been staying.
With Covid cases rapidly rising and the Japanese public fearful that an influx of visitors from abroad could make the crisis worse, that was by design.
So far six people connected to the Olympics have been banished from the games, including two silver medalists from the country of Georgia who got the boot this week for breaking the Covid-19 rules by wandering out of the village.
Vazha Margvelashvili and Lasha Shavdatuashvili, were spotted sightseeing near Tokyo Tower on Tuesday after their judo matches were finished, Games officials said.
Under the Olympics “playbook,” athletes are prohibited from wandering around the city and visiting tourist areas, shops, restaurants, bars or gyms.
Muto on Sunday called that a “clear and serious violation” of the rules and said the Georgian embassy has apologized for their behavior.
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Two electricians from the United States were also banned and two more from Britain were arrested for allegedly using cocaine about three weeks before the Olympic games officially opened on July 23, Japanese officials said.
NBC News has reached out to the Tokyo metropolitan police for the status of those cases.
Tokyo-based Aggreko Events Services Japan has confirmed that four of their workers were arrested and that the company is cooperating with police.
“Should the allegations turn out to be true, Tokyo 2020 will issue a strict warning to the company and advise them to take all possible measures to ensure that such an incident does not happen again,” Olympics organizers said in a statement.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
