A host of athletes have tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, leaving countries facing tense waits to whether they can recover in time. US bobsledder Josh Williamson was the latest to confirm he had tested positive for the coronavirus, but said he was hopeful of still being able to take part in the Games, which begin next week. The 25-year-old first-time Olympian tested positive on Sunday, forcing him to miss his flight with Team USA scheduled for Thursday (US time). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Josh Williamson (@jwilliamsonusa) “I have felt pretty helpless throughout this process, but I’ve also found myself laughing a bit at the situation I’m in,” he wrote on his Instagram account. “Isn’t it ironic that after 4 years of hard work, all there is to do is sit, rest, recover and have faith?” The brakeman, who was one of a dozen named to the US Olympic bobsleigh team, said he would compete, if possible. “There are later flights running to Beijing throughout the Olympics in anticipation of things like this, I just need consistent negatives to be on one,” Williamson said. In addition to Williamson, two members of Norway’s women’s cross-country ski team have tested positive, as have Swiss hockey players, Russian bobsledders and German skeleton sliders. Norway’s Heidi Weng, a two-time overall World Cup champion, and Anne Kjersti Kalvå contracted Covid-19 at a training camp in the Italian Alpine resort of Seiser Alm and are now isolating. Cross-country manager Espen Bjervig said in a video call their participation in the Olympics was uncertain. Team doctor Øystein Andersen said Italian rules mean that Weng and Kalvå will be in isolation for 10 days, until February 3. The opening ceremony is on February 4 and the Olympic cross-country skiing programme starts the next day. “This is a shocking situation,” Andersen said. Weng is the top-ranked Norwegian and a five-time world champion. “We have a reserve in the squad, and we also have other athletes who are accredited and can be ready,” Bjervig said of possible replacements. “But basically now the focus is on looking at the opportunities for those who have been taken out.” Officials leaving ‘no stone unturned’ to ensure safe Winter Olympics: IOC chief Norway is the leading nation in cross-country skiing, with its women’s team winning three of the six events on the programme at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. The team had planned to leave for Beijing on Thursday but will now be delayed. The entire men’s team is also in isolation in Seiser Alm after head coach Arild Monsen tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to Norway on Monday. All eight team members were defined as a close contact of Monsen and were awaiting the results of PCR tests. They are now expected to depart for Beijing on Monday. China imposes strict restrictions on all arrivals, but especially on people who recently had the virus. They are required to supply proof of five recent negative test results since the infection. All athletes will be tested each day they are in China, too. Switzerland said two of its women’s hockey players won’t fly out with their teammates to Beijing on their scheduled flight following virus tests. The Swiss Olympic team said some results for Alina Müller and Sinja Leemann in recent days were over the threshold for entry into China, but said it hoped they could take a later flight and join the team in time for their opening game against Canada on February 3. Two Russian bobsledders from the same sledge crew reported positive tests. Alexei Pushkarev and Vasily Kondratenko are in isolation after a training camp in the southern city of Sochi, coach Denis Alimov told broadcaster Match TV. There have been four virus cases on the Russian Olympic team this week. Nikita Tregubov, the skeleton silver medallist in 2018, tested positive after attending the same camp as the bobsledders. Figure skater Mikhail Kolyada tested positive and was replaced on the team on Tuesday after feeling unwell. German skeleton racers Axel Jungk and Hannah Neise are also hoping to compete despite recent infections. Coach Christian Baude said both tested positive earlier this month after competing at a World Cup event, in comments reported by German agency dpa. Baude said Neise had already provided a negative test since her infection.