Australian hockey team ’embarrassed’ as five players break Olympic village bubble to buy booze after losing final

AUSTRALIA’S Olympic hockey team have been left ’embarrassed’ after five of their players broke the Olympic village bubble.

The Aussies drowned their sorrows following their gold medal match defeat to Belgium, which they lost dramatically on penalties.

AFP

Australia drowned their sorrows after being beaten on penalties by Belgium[/caption]

Getty

The silver medallists broke the Olympic bubble in the early hours of Friday morning[/caption]

But a number of the players landed themselves in hot water when they left the Olympic village, breaking the Covid bubble they were supposed to stay in.

At 3am on Friday morning, three players went to a convenience store to purchase two cases of beer.

And three hours later two more members of the squad also left the bubble but purchased nothing.

Vice President of the Australian Olympic Committee and Chef de Mission of the Australian Team Ian Chesterman had to apologise on behalf of the culprits.

He said: “I am deeply disappointed. While I understand the players’ disappointment following their loss in the gold medal match we have been abundantly clear about the expectations of this team while we’re in Tokyo.

“We have reprimanded them, isolated them in their rooms and we’re going home anyway. I believe at the moment they’re feeling deep remorse.

“The rules are there to keep safe and for us to keep our commitment to the Games organisers and the Japanese people.

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“They’ve let their own teammates down and there will be no further action.

“The Australian team have been through a massive campaign together and we will stick together. The players have apologised and are very remorseful.

“We have worked very hard to get the team here safe and to keep them safe and we will continue to strictly enforce the protocols to compete successfully and get home safely.”

According to Chesterman, the players self-reported their indiscretion, which saw them leave the bubble for 20 minutes while wearing masks.

The Australian hockey team coach Colin Batch said that he was ’embarrassed’ by the players’ actions, but added: “The players were really remorseful for their actions.

“They did immediately apologise for lack of thought and the impact it has had on the Australian team.”

The Kookaburras, who are now set to be kept in their rooms until they fly back from Japan on Saturday, all underwent coronavirus tests after breaching the bubble and returned negative results.

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