Australia curling team allowed to continue competing at Winter Olympics despite positive Covid test

Tahli Gill tested positive but the Chinese Public Health System said she and Dean Hewiit can compete under close contact provisions

Australia’s mixed curling team have been granted a reprieve and will be allowed to complete the round-robin phase of the competition after a U-turn by the Chinese authorities.

The Australian Olympic Committee announced earlier on Sunday that the pair had been withdrawn from the competition after Tahli Gill tested positive for coronavirus.

The AOC said Gill had been moved to an isolation facility and that arrangements were being made for her and team-mate Dean Hewitt to travel home as soon as possible.

However, the Australians later announced that the Chinese Public Health System had advised that the pair could continue under close contact provisions, and they returned to the ice for their afternoon match against Switzerland.

Gill tested positive for coronavirus prior to the Games but was cleared to compete under close contact provisions, and was subject to additional testing procedures.

In a separate development, Games organisers have been strongly criticised by German Chef de Mission Dirk Schimmelpfennig over the quarantine conditions for Nordic Combined athlete Eric Frenzel.

Frenzel, a three-time Olympic champion, tested positive for the virus upon arrival in the Chinese capital this week, and was forced to go into isolation.

Christophe Dubi, the executive director of the International Olympic Committee said: “It is a duty and responsibility we have to make sure that expectations are met.

“We have heard and discussed with the IOC, and in the meantime the situation has been addressed.

“Nevertheless, the conditions were not good enough that night and it should not happen and we want to make sure that it does not.”