Multiple sources are reporting that beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb has tested positive for COVID-19 in Tokyo and is in quarantine.
Crabb was scheduled to play in the Olympics with Jake Gibb but will now apparently be replaced by another Hawaiian, Tri Bourne.
According to the Orange County Register:
Crabb tested positive shortly after arriving in Japan over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the situation. The former NCAA player of the year for Long Beach State and two-time AVP tour MVP becomes the first Team USA athlete scheduled to compete in Tokyo to test positive for COVID-19. Kara Eaker, an alternate on the gymnastics team, tested positive earlier in the week.
Tri Bourne, a former USC standout, is expected to be named Crabb’s replacement. Bourne arrived in Tokyo Wednesday and was undergoing processing, including a COVID-19 test, at Narita International Airport. Bourne’s normal playing partner is Crabb’s brother Trevor.
From NBC4 News in Los Angeles:
Taylor’s brother, Trevor Crabb, also a professional beach volleyball player, described the situation as “terrible,” saying Taylor is “fine and healthy and should be allowed to play in my personal opinion.”
Both news outlets said that USA Volleyball confirmed that a player had tested positive but did not name Crabb.
According to the Associated Press, although beach volleyball teams go through the qualifying process as pairs, international volleyball federation rules allow a player to be replaced up until Thursday evening. Gibb and Crabb had been scheduled to play their first match on Sunday night.
The news broke Tuesday night, the same day that that Orange County Register reporter Scott Reid’s story about Crabb “detailing how his participation in the Tokyo Games would not have been possible had an arbitrator not reduced his 2019 USA Volleyball suspension through September 2021 for violating a previous ban for misconduct involving a minor age girl.”
In Wednesday’s story, the Register reported that:
USA Volleyball were detained at the airport for 18 hours after arriving in Tokyo Sunday and required to take a second COVID-19 test. Hours later Gibb trained in Tokyo without Crabb. Another U.S. beach player Nick Lucena was also seen training without his playing partner Phil Dalhausser. Dalhausser was scheduled to be on the same flight as Crabb. Dalhausser has been cleared to play this weekend, (Southern California News Group) has confirmed.
Sweet fancy Moses…