An Olympic weightlifter from Uganda has been found in Tokyo after fleeing from his hotel room in Osaka a week ago.
First-time Olympic competitor, Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, failed to show up last Friday for a mandatory Covid test.
Organisers of the games soon ordered all participants to remain in a bubble to prevent the potential spread of the virus.
It seems like Julius was afraid of testing positive, and thus afraid of the consequences.
Well, the good news is that he has finally been found… just 100 miles away!
The poor bloke didn’t qualify for his country’s Olympic squad and was meant to fly back home on Tuesday.
Seems like he couldn’t bear the weight of defeat. Ha…
“I feel sorry for him,” President Fukuyama said:
“He must have hoped to win and bring the gold medal back to his country. I felt relieved he was found and want to hand him over as soon as possible as many citizens are worrying”.
But also I hope that weightlifter from Uganda lives his best life in Japan and is never found.
— 𝕡𝕦𝕟𝕜&𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖 (@sch4) July 18, 2021
We’re with you, Fukuyama!
Julius was found at the home of a friend in Yokkaichi City, the Mie prefecture.
A note was found in his hotel room last Friday when he was first discovered missing. The note said that he wished to work in Japan, which prompted a full-blown police search.
Naoki Fukuyama, an official at the Osaka prefectural police department, said that police are still sorting out with the Ugandan embassy on where to deliver Julius.
The Ugandan Embassy in Tokyo took to Twitter, announcing that they are working with Japanese authorities to ensure a “safe and secure” return to Uganda by Wednesday.
A Ugandan weightlifter has been found four days after he disappeared from an Olympic training camp in Japan leaving a note saying he wanted to find work, police said Tuesday. UGANDA
— Poet Lemaiyan (@lemaiyanpoet) July 20, 2021
“Any issues to do with alleged absconding from the duty he had been flown to perform in Japan and related disappearance from the training camp, will be handled appropriately on his return to Uganda.”
However, safety and care aside, Julius has earned a bit of notoriety around the issue now.
A junior minister in Uganda Foreign Affairs Ministry called him a “traitor” – yikes!
“This behaviour and act is treacherous,” they said.
A bit much if you ask me. Cut the guy some slack!
