Coronavirus: Seattle Storm’s Katie Lou Samuelson to miss Olympics after positive COVID-19 test

Katie Lou Samuelson, a guard on the Seattle Storm WNBA team and a previous Youth Olympic Games gold medalist, will miss the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.

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Officials with USA Basketball, the governing body for both men’s and women’s basketball, said Samuelson was placed under health and safety protocols Saturday and that she would be unable to compete as part of the U.S. Olympic Women’s 3x3 Basketball Team.

“I am devastated to share that after getting sick with COVID-19, I will not be able to go and compete in Tokyo,” Samuelson wrote Monday in a social media post. “Competing in the Olympics has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl and I hope someday soon, I can come back to realize that dream.”

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Samuelson, who was named to the first-ever U.S. Olympic Women’s 3x3 Basketball Team on June 23, said that she was “especially heartbroken” because she was fully vaccinated “and took every precaution.”

“I know everything will work itself out in the way it’s supposed to,” she wrote. “I wish nothing but the best to my USAB teammates as they go out there and crush it. I’ll be cheering you on every step of the way.”

Samuelson had been set to become the first U.S. basketball player to compete in both a Youth Olympic Games and an Olympic Games, according to USA Basketball. Alongside De’Janae Boykin, Napheesa Collier and Arike Ogunbowale, Samuelson took home gold for the U.S. as part of the 2014 U.S. Youth Olympic Women’s 3x3 Basketball Team. It was the first gold medal for USA Basketball at the Youth Olympic Games.

In May, Samuelson played all six games in qualifying for the Olympics, according to the Bleacher Report. She will be replaced by Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, ESPN reported.

The 2020 Olympic Games are set to begin Friday.

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