Guinea has made a U-turn about not participating at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, 24 hours after ordering its delegation not to attend the games.
“Guinea will participate in the Tokyo Olympics,” Sports Minister, Sanoussy Bantama Sow, told the BBC.
The Minister had said on Wednesday that there were concerns over a recent rise of COVID-19 variants.
“It was not a question of finances,” he said in response to such accusations. “We were simply caring about the life of our Guineans.
“We spoke with the organisers and they told us they will do everything to make sure our athletes will be safe.”
On Wednesday, Sow had issued a statement announcing Guinea’s late withdrawal, which came with the small delegation yet to fly.
“Due to the rise in cases of Covid-19 variants, the government, out of concern for the health of the Guinean athletes, has regretfully decided to cancel their participation,” the statement, dated 21 July, read.
The Guinean delegation features five competitors – one apiece in athletics, judo and wrestling, while two are swimmers.
One of them, Mariama Toure, is the first in action as she is due to race in the women’s 100m breaststroke heats on Sunday, with judoka Mamadou Samba is scheduled to compete the following day.
North Korea, it would be recalled, pulled out of the delayed Olympics in April citing COVID-19 concerns.
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